Curriculum

Trying hard not to spend much time here but some things are too interesting to ignore. Via Prufrock I found this excellent suggestion for early education, by a poet, in the NYT.

Its real effort echoes my spontaneous reply to an academic in Amherst Mass, back in the 70’s, who demanded at a party what I would offer, since I rejected her PC touchy- feely course list. Having had too much to drink, my list was short, though not too bad for off- the cuff improvisation. I replied:

“Poetry, history, evolutionary biology, and how to use a chainsaw.”

Adjust for local conditions, ie rope a calf/ catch large fish for use a chainsaw…

Jack’s evolution through Classics , voracious reading, and river guiding wasn’t bad either. And I would definitely add at least a language, but preferably two– one familiar enough to be easy– French, Spanish– and one with at least a different alphabet– Russian, Chinese.

3 comments

  1. On reading this, I mused to two nearby people, "Who the f*$# doesn't know how to run a chainsaw?" I was disheartened to get two raised hands in return. You cover Milton and Wilde, I'll handle Husqvarna and Stihl.

  2. Have at it, Stingray! Of course, up north where you are it is even more necessary, though we do heat with wood. I am favoring riding, roping, and branding here…

  3. I do not like most modern technology, and try not to become enslaved by it. I did not learn to use a chainsaw until well into my 30's, when I worked(briefly) for a "Tree Surgeon"–one of my many, many odd survival jobs to accumulate money for those-who-must-be-fed–and I HAD to learn to use one, and it became like one of my own appendages! I'd hate to go back to just the axe or machete nowadays, so I AM partially enslaved! I kinda like those things called "microwaves" and "refrigerators", too…..Schools SHOULD teach REAL, PRACTICAL stuff like this, that kids are going to HAVE to deal with–car maintenance, tax preparations(or rebellion), house building/buying, proper nutrition/exercise, how to COOK(I remember long, long ago, classes about cooking, etc., available for GIRLS–"Home Economics", but it SHOULD be mandatory for boys, too!)–gosh, SOOOOOOOmany real, practical things that would REALLY educate and prepare kids to take care of themselves, instead of the mostly useless drivel so often insisted on by present "standards"……L.B.

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