Autumn School Days.. A Tuesday 4 Meme

Yesterday's post on the Christian apostle Paul got little attention. I think if you love history it will be of interest to you.

 Welcome to Tuesday 4 which we keep up in memory of Toni Taddeo.

School days help to shape our future personality. 

1.Share a story of your school days that you think may have helped shape who you are today. 

In the  6th grade our little school had the first male teacher. Later, he was my daughter's teacher as well and remembered me.  He had a very dumb view of history.  He said, "You know, they lie to the children in the Soviet Union."  I said, "How do we know you aren't lying to us?"   He had no answer. I learned then and there that propaganda is not the purpose of teaching or school but it is what happens and public education is used for politics.

Later he mocked the Greek and Roman and Egyptian gods and the people who worshiped them.  I asked him if Aristotle, Plato and a long list of brilliant Greeks and Romans believed in them. "Yes," he responded.  "Were they geniuses?" I asked.   "Oh, why yes they were!" he said.    "And are you a genius?" I asked.   "No, I am no genius" he replied.  "Then I will take their word for things since they are smarter than you are."   Arrogance in teachers also has no place in schools. Those "gods" did indeed exist and walked on the earth as Titans and what are called in Hebrew giborim. 

Arrogance and the new idea that ancients were stupid and we are wiser as time goes on is baloney. It is related to evolution in  it's raw form where you start out as nothing and get better and better. However, science, which is observation, not theory, proves that things get worse over time. While technology advances, human character does not.  It is a form of the law of entropy where over time things fall into ruin.

2 Did you have a favorite teacher and what made them special to you? 

I did like my fourth grade teacher. She smelled of violets and was a nice lady. In high school I liked my Russian teacher who also taught history. To be fair he also liked me very much and taught me a love of jazz and Dixie land.

3  Did you enjoy the rituals of school.. new clothing, pencils, notebooks, etc.? 

I was never interested in clothing and wore whatever my mother bought for me all the way through high school and university!   But I did like new pencils and pens and a blue cloth binder which were fun to decorate with graffiti!

4 Did you walk to school or ride the bus? Do you have a story to share on that?

Our tiny town doesn't use buses. Everyone walks to school. We had crossing guards to help us along the way. Kids on the off streets and adults on the main streets.  When you stayed late after school there was always a policeman to help you cross any street and see you home if you were headed in my direction.. downtown, that is.  I used to love walking home for lunch especially in the rain and I loved walking home in the autumn when things get dark early. I enjoyed the lights of cars and houses that reflected in the rain along the way.





Elementary school. Both my daughter and I attended here.