#tork teaching

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All photos that I've researched of Mr. Thorkelson's time as a teacher at Pacific Hills School and New Dimensions High School (and that have been posted in the past separately with quotes). Photos 1-4 (?) by Anthony K. Roberts, photo 6 by Matt Asner.

“Best high school teacher I ever had […]. Tremendous empathy.” - former student Mark, commenting on a Monkees Live Almanac blog post (2018) “Peter was a great teacher and friend to me in 1977-78 in Los Angeles. He was my History and Music teacher 5 days a week and was the most wonderful, patient and real teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from his kindness and talent.” - former student David, MLive dot com (2019) In a New Dimensions High School Alumni public group on Facebook, various alumni recalled their memories of Peter, including: “We were lucky to have known him.” - Joanie (2019) “Was a wonderful guy and we [were] lucky to have known him.” - Alison (2019) “I was one of the luckiest student[s] the year [Peter] taught music. [He] let me rock the violin for the graduation ceremony.” - Mark (2019)

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Peter Tork teaching at Pacific Hills School, 1976.

“[A]lso, you have to remember that, in this society, teaching is not regarded as a very important pastime by those people in charge of setting budgets and national priorities and that kind of thing. Because if it were, they’d be paid a vastly greater amount of money than they are. Not, you know, double doesn’t begin to get it. Triple, quadruple, that kind of thing maybe. And the fact that teachers are paid as poorly as they are indicates what the priorities are. Nurses make what garbage men make, that kind of thing. It’s not a, you know, it speaks… well… ill, it speaks very poorly and very loudly about our priorities.” - Peter Tork, KTRU Radio (August 28, 1983) “Since September he has been teaching English, math, drama, Eastern philosophy and ‘Rock Band Class’ at Pacific Hills, a private secondary school in Santa Monica, Calif. A college dropout, Peter got the job on the strength of his interview with Dr. Penrod Moss, the school’s director. ‘I like to hire people who are independent and creative,’ Moss said. ‘I was impressed by his personality and his ability to speak.’” - People Magazine (April 5, 1976) “I was a schoolteacher in Southern California, and I taught music as well as academics, and I really very much love to teach, and, and I think that if circumstances show me that I am not to entertain anymore or my entertaining career per se winds down, I would very, very much love to coach young entertainers.” - Peter Tork, Headquarters Radio (1989) “[A]s a teacher, I realized that in order to teach something well you need to understand what your student is going through as they try to learn.” - Peter Tork, The Journal Times Online (August 12, 2005) “Best high school teacher I ever had […]. Tremendous empathy.” - former student Mark, commenting on a Monkees Live Almanac blog post (2018) “Peter was a great teacher and friend to me in 1977-78 in Los Angeles. He was my History and Music teacher 5 days a week and was the most wonderful, patient and real teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from his kindness and talent.” - former student David, MLive dot com (2019)

(More quotes and photos from Peter's time as a teacher in older posts, filed under the tag Tork teaching.)

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“Sometimes the kids [I teach] get on me at first. ‘Why study history? Who cares?’ And I tell them, ‘Well, if you go out of your house every day and every day you stub your toe on the same brick, then you’re not learning from your past experiences. And that’s why we study history, to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again.’ That’s what my history teachers used to tell me, too. Except they never postulated a movable brick to allow for evolving world conditions.” - Peter Tork, Soho Weekly News, August 11-18, 1977

More about Peter's time teaching in older posts, such as this one.

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Peter at New Dimensions High School; photo by Matt Asner.

About the photo: “First day of school in 9th grade. I am nervous as hell because it is my first day of high school and it’s all new. I walk into my Social Studies Class and am greeted by the teacher who just happens to be Peter Tork of The Monkees. A guy I watched goofing around on TV religiously as a child was teaching me about the world. He was a tough teacher. We had a thing in his class where he would always think that I wasn’t paying attention. He would always make a point of stopping what he was teaching and say to me, ‘What did I just say`’ I would always answer him correctly and it always seemed to frustrate him. He was very smart and loved to read from Mao’s Little Red Book.” - Matt Asner, Facebook (July 1, 2023) “Since September he has been teaching English, math, drama, Eastern philosophy and ‘Rock Band Class’ at Pacific Hills, a private secondary school in Santa Monica, Calif. A college dropout, Peter got the job on the strength of his interview with Dr. Penrod Moss, the school’s director. ‘I like to hire people who are independent and creative,’ Moss said. ‘I was impressed by his personality and his ability to speak.’ […] While Tork the musician still has dreams of one day returning to the rock circuit, Thorkelson the teacher is happily planning his next course, ‘Mao, Marx and Mama.’ ‘I’m doing something important,’ he says. ‘I never do anything less than important.’” - People magazine, April 5, 1976 (More about Peter, socialism, communism, and more in an older post.) “Peter was a great teacher and friend to me in 1977-78 in Los Angeles. He was my History and Music teacher 5 days a week and was the most wonderful, patient and real teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from his kindness and talent. Rest in peace and love to all your family and friends. Your student always, David LaBonge, Ft Myers, FL.” - MLive dot com (2019)

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“[Peter] landed a job teaching English, philosophy, drama, math, and a ‘rock band class’ in a private school in nearby Santa Monica in September of 1975. ‘I had no experience, no credentials. Some of the same qualities that got me the Monkees job got me the teaching job,’ Thorkelson said. His abilities to talk and to get along with people are his strongest assets, he added.” - The Bowling Green News, May 24, 1979 “[At Pacific Hills School] I was teaching English, social studies, tutoring a little bit of math, science, phys. ed., and music. I had a rock band class — there was one guy whose fingers just flew. I had one woman who played flute in the rock band and with her on cello and me on guitar we did a Bach piece together; it was splendid.” - Peter Tork, Goldmine, 1982 In a New Dimensions High School Alumni public group on Facebook, various alumni recalled their memories of Peter, including:

"We were lucky to have known him.” - Joanie C. H., 2019

“Was a wonderful guy and we [were] lucky to have known him.” - Alison R., 2019

“I was one of the luckiest student[s] the year [Peter] taught music. [He] let me rock the violin for the graduation ceremony.” - Mark L., 2019

Read more about Peter's years teaching.

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“When I went back to college [the second time], I flunked out again. I studied, but I kept going off on tangents, particularly in my favorite subject, educational psychology. I was interested in so many aspects of it that I couldn’t organize myself. I failed, but I don’t regret it at all. I learned more from educational psychology class than anything else I ever took. I’m sure if I ever teach, it will have helped me a great deal.” - Peter Tork, interviewed by Edwin Miller for Seventeen Magazine (August 1967) “Peter was a great teacher and friend to me in 1977-78 in Los Angeles. He was my History and Music teacher 5 days a week and was the most wonderful, patient and real teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from his kindness and talent. Rest in peace and love to all your family and friends. Your student always, David LaBonge” - MLive dot com (2019) “Was a wonderful guy and we [were] lucky to have known him.” - Alison R., New Dimensions Alumni Facebook group (2019) “Best high school teacher I ever had […]. Tremendous empathy.” - Mark, in a comment on the Monkees Live Almanac blog (2018)

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In Japan, August 1981; footage courtesy of raremonkees and BetaGems Lost Media.

“Peter Tork has a new band, the New Monks, and has recently toured Japan, where the Monkees are still fondly remembered, playing to more than 20,000 fans in Tokyo.” - Billboard, September 5, 1981 “‘Each of us was portrayed in both the show and publicity as a particular kind of individual,’ says Tork. ‘The character of Peter Tork was one I developed myself. I always seemed to look like I was battered. All the people who felt hurt by things in their lives looked at me. It was a character I could hide behind.’ In November 1968, Tork became the first to leave the Monkees. He recalls the band giving him a $6 watch with an engraved inscription on the back that read: ‘From the guys down at work.’ He never looked back with regret. There wasn’t any time. Undaunted, Tork embarked on a teaching career at a secondary private school in Los Angeles, giving instruction in English, French, social studies, math, science, baseball and music for more than three years. ‘If all the professions were paid what they’re worth,’ he says, ‘I would probably still be a teacher. There are definitely similarities between teaching and entertainment. The feedback is instantaneous, both from audiences and students. Feeling and attitude are important to both professions as well. ‘I’ve always been a show-off,’ he concludes. Eventually Tork came back to music. Has he sought out any of the now-famous songwriters and producers who worked with the Monkees for help? ‘I have my own life,’ he says. ‘I don’t have any chips to cash in on. I was a hired hand. There is no pity in this business. It’s all ‘what have you done for me lately?’ And ‘play me a tape.’ It’s not a happy state of affairs, but I’m glad to be back infront of audiences, playing music.’” - article by Byron Reimus, The Columbia Record, July 17, 1981

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Photo by Matthew Asner:

“First day of school in 9th grade. I am nervous as hell because it is my first day of high school and it’s all new. I walk into my Social Studies Class and am greeted by the teacher who just happens to be Peter Tork of The Monkees. A guy I watched goofing around on TV religiously as a child was teaching me about the world. He was a tough teacher. We had a thing in his class where he would always think that I wasn’t paying attention. He would always make a point of stopping what he was teaching and say to me, ‘What did I just say`’ I would always answer him correctly and it always seemed to frustrate him. He was very smart and loved to read from Mao’s Little Red Book. I was truly happy for him when The Monkees started touring and he found success again. I took this picture in our schoolyard at New Dimensions High School.” - Matthew Asner (Ed Asner’s son), Facebook, July 1, 2023

“Since September he has been teaching English, math, drama, Eastern philosophy and ‘Rock Band Class’ at Pacific Hills, a private secondary school in Santa Monica, Calif. A college dropout, Peter got the job on the strength of his interview with Dr. Penrod Moss, the school’s director. ‘I like to hire people who are independent and creative,’ Moss said. ‘I was impressed by his personality and his ability to speak.’ […] While Tork the musician still has dreams of one day returning to the rock circuit, Thorkelson the teacher is happily planning his next course, ‘Mao, Marx and Mama.’ ‘I’m doing something important,’ he says. ‘I never do anything less than important.’” - People magazine, April 5, 1976

“For some time, [Tork] said, the students in his high school classes had trouble forgetting their teacher was once a teen idol. ‘Until I gave out a few F’s,’ he added, grinning.” - The Clarion Ledger, November 1, 1979 (x)

“I was a schoolteacher in Southern California, and I taught music as well as academics, and I really very much love to teach, and, and I think that if circumstances show me that I am not to entertain anymore or my entertaining career per se winds down, I would very, very much love to coach young entertainers.” - Peter Tork, Headquarters radio, September 1989

“[A]s a teacher, I realized that in order to teach something well you need to understand what your student is going through as they try to learn.” - Peter Tork, The Journal Times Online, August 12, 2005

On a 2018 blog post at the Monkees Live Almanac, one former student, Mark, commented: “Best high school teacher I ever had […]. Tremendous empathy.” (x)

“I taught English and social studies. And sure, the kids probably saw me as a Monkee, but they got over that in a hurry. Once I lost my temper at the kids, they’d see I was just like all the others — and I probably lost my temper too many times, since I was in an angry state back then. I have a life now, that’s the difference. I have a spiritual core. I’m not Shirley MacLaine but I believe in greater or lesser worlds and consciousness. Most people think of themselves as cut off from each other; others know there’s a connectedness that can be tapped into.” - Peter Tork, The Boston Globe, August 10, 1989

“In the mid-’70s, Tork got jobs teaching English, social studies and music at two private schools in the Los Angeles area. The first job, which he enjoyed, was at ‘a radical progressive school in Santa Monica.’ The second was at a school he describes as ‘a holding tank for budding fascists. I couldn’t hack it. I found more integrity in being a singing waiter’ — his next job.” - Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1992 (x)

More about that next job here.