Immediately following his university education as a science teacher, Linsky began working at Westminster High School in Westminster, California. During the summer of 1963, he offered to teach marine biology as a summer school class. The course was so successful that, over the subsequent 5 years, Linsky went from biology teacher to Chairman of the Science Department at Westminster and Fountain Valley High Schools, as well as President of the District Education Association in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. He also became a research assistant at the University of California, Irvine, working in Back Bay Newport, and served on the Accrediting Commission for Western Association of Schools and Colleges.