Reading the Gettysburg Address this morning took me back to elementary school, where I learned to be an American. The pledge of allegiance, the American Flag, the American Revolution, Washington and the cherry tree, World War II, Rosie the Riveter, American War Bonds, igloos and tepees, the American Indian, Brotherhood and the Gettysbur…
Reading the Gettysburg Address this morning took me back to elementary school, where I learned to be an American. The pledge of allegiance, the American Flag, the American Revolution, Washington and the cherry tree, World War II, Rosie the Riveter, American War Bonds, igloos and tepees, the American Indian, Brotherhood and the Gettysburg Address. Respect, discipline, homework, working well with others and the teachers. They were serious and funny, strict, easy to understand and boring. Mostly, they liked us and let us and our parents know how we were doing by filling out Report Cards, and they kept us together, whether we liked or not.
Agree with Tom. Fern, you really nailed that time. All so clear in memory. And the "standard" curriculum, such as it was, meant that all over the country students were reading the same thing. I could generally expect that first year students at Oberlin had read the same shakespeare or poetry iand other general things. Not when I retired. (Not arguing for the same works over decades, but a "general" culture across all sorts of divisions.....
With better education on all those similarities, that should still be the case. Unfortunately, too many kids arrive at college today having to spend their freshman year taking "remedial" classes for all the stuff the system failed to properly teach them in high school.
Reading the Gettysburg Address this morning took me back to elementary school, where I learned to be an American. The pledge of allegiance, the American Flag, the American Revolution, Washington and the cherry tree, World War II, Rosie the Riveter, American War Bonds, igloos and tepees, the American Indian, Brotherhood and the Gettysburg Address. Respect, discipline, homework, working well with others and the teachers. They were serious and funny, strict, easy to understand and boring. Mostly, they liked us and let us and our parents know how we were doing by filling out Report Cards, and they kept us together, whether we liked or not.
You nailed that time, Fern.
Thank you for this morning's read, Tom.
Agree with Tom. Fern, you really nailed that time. All so clear in memory. And the "standard" curriculum, such as it was, meant that all over the country students were reading the same thing. I could generally expect that first year students at Oberlin had read the same shakespeare or poetry iand other general things. Not when I retired. (Not arguing for the same works over decades, but a "general" culture across all sorts of divisions.....
With better education on all those similarities, that should still be the case. Unfortunately, too many kids arrive at college today having to spend their freshman year taking "remedial" classes for all the stuff the system failed to properly teach them in high school.
Too true. More to say but not this evening.....