Monday, October 22, 2012

  Oldest working teacher: Father Geoffrey Schneider sets world record (VIDEO)

SYDNEY, Australia -- Father Geoffrey Schneider, who has been teacher and chaplain at Sydney's St Aloysius' College's Junior School for 47 years, has no intention of retiring, as he approaches his 100th birthday in December - setting the new world record for the Oldest working teacher, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.

  Photo: Father Geoffrey Schneider is turning 100 in December and still teaches at St Aloysius College. He is the world's oldest teacher. Photo: Dave Swift ( enlarge photo )

The Guinness world record for the longest time an individual has worked for the same company is 80 years, a record set by Thomas Stoddard (b. 1912) who started working at Speakman Company located in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, on 16 February 1928 as a mail boy until his retirement in 2008 as a member of the Board of Directors.

  Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the longest career as a postal worker: 53 years and 48 days, achieved by Takashi Miyaoka (Japan) who worked at the Shinjuku postal office in Tokyo, Japan.

  The secret of his success, he said, is "a mountain of patience". "If things are going wrong, don't start shouting. Just proceed quietly and things will settle down eventually. Their books will eventually open."

  Fr Schneider has taught at schools in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, shaping the intellects and values of leading figures of Australian government, business, academia and sport, including Tony Abbott.

  Retirement doesn't appeal to him. Why retire, he said, "So I can read the paper every morning and then forget what's in it? That's what a retired friend told me happens to him...At 3pm there's afternoon tea and if you don't turn up in the first minute they come knock on your door and say, 'It's tea time now'.

 "Really, I shouldn't be frightened of it, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I just feel I can be more useful here."