“The truth is beautiful,” English teacher Maria Gonzalez tells her students frequently in class. She speaks in the center of the room, surrounded by walls of news clippings and student art pieces accumulated through the decades. From articles about Cambodian child soldiers to an urn labeled “Ashes of Problem Students” to a political portrait depicting herself grinning as 1984’s Big Brother, you can look around Gonzalez’s room for hours and never get bored.
“People forget the value of being truthful, of honesty. And sometimes you think, oh I cannot, the truth is not good, because it’s an ugly truth, but that fact that it’s real then it makes it beautiful and if we don’t acknowledge the truth then we will live in a world full of lies,” she said.
She has lived by this quote throughout her 48-year teaching career. She has an authoritative voice and a big personality, speaking to her students directly as they write notes. They know her affectionately as the “benevolent dictator.”
“You know, it might be surprising to you, but I was very shy and I don’t like speaking in public with adults,” Gonzalez said. “I’ll do it and I’ll do it well, but when I’m with the students, I like it because I can talk to you and that’s why I love this age. I think I can ask questions and I can talk to you at a level that you can understand and grow up from it. And it’s just entertaining, it’s cool to see how you guys think.”
Her teaching career began in New Jersey at an inner city middle school. She and her husband decided to move back to Miami.
“I was looking for a job. I had a good friend who taught at the high school and said ‘Hey, there is an opening at Gulliver– why don’t you apply?’ And I applied. Mrs. Krutulis interviewed me and hired me on the spot,” said Gonzalez.
English teacher Mark Zipse has worked alongside Gonzalez for a long time.
“It has been 31 years,” said Zipse. “She set a standard of excellence and she has retained a lot of the qualities of teaching that are universal and that exist throughout time. Her style of teaching and what she brings to the school goes beyond any trends in education. She stays with the tried and true foundation of what works, no matter what period in time and history.”
