Jay Bennish and 1973

Townhall.com ^ | 3/12/06 | Mary Grabar

[Born Conservative]

If you have asked to be added to this list, and haven’t been receiving the pings, please let me know. I’ve had a problem with my file synchronization between my home and work computer, and apparently have lost some names on the list. I think I have the problem fixed, and will gladly re-add your name.

[martin_fierro]

We managed to fill up the rest of the class time with ignorant students blurting out word associations and provocative statements

Welcome to the Smoky Backroom. < |:)~

[ClearCase_guy]

bump for later

[Graymatter]

"The ur-Bennish." (That's where I pause to wonder, who wrote this? It's good.)

[beyond the sea]

But come to think of it, baby boomers like me were denied educations.

Depends on where the writer lived, went to school, and how old she is. I'm 59, a "boomer", and I got the real education before everything went sour around 1964. I was in college in 1964, and the colleges hadn't really been infected at that time.

To me the category "boomers" ought to be reserved only for those born from around 1946 through around 1956. That was the real boom, that was when the actual explosion of births occurred after the war.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Good find!

[beyond the sea]

We had settled into the ennui that surrounds adolescents gathered under one roof to bide time and attract the opposite sex, with adult supervisors counting success as a day spent with no blood spilled. It was assumed that we had the attention span of gnats, and teachers entertained us with such feats as doing chin ups on the classroom doorway, while girls in the back applied cosmetics.

I can't imagine a school like this and this writer is only about 12 years younger than myself. What a difference a decade makes.

Btw, does anyone know how old this writer really is??

[altura]

nuther bump for later.

[beyond the sea]

I learned that postmodernists had denounced philosophy, or the pursuit of truth, as a disguise for the ideology of the West that attempted to impose its values on the rest of the (more tolerant, peaceful) world.

Amazing........ another reason to get the books from a library and learn all by yourself.

[Racehorse]

But come to think of it, baby boomers like me were denied educations.

I had a Jay Bennish teaching my tenth-grade "social studies" class in 1973 (note the subject name that already reveals the non-academic nature of the pursuit).

[. . .]

Mary Grabar teaches at Clayton State University located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Teaches what?  Mythology?

[crescentbeach]

It should probably be noted that Franklin was a very tough city high school even back then. I visited for a day in the mid 1970's, and a guide stood outside the restroom while I was in there. I guess the school district made sure the children of Rochester's 60's rioters got to hear what they wanted to hear.

I'm glad this woman transcended her experience there.

[DumpsterDiver]

Btw, does anyone know how old this writer really is??

No, but I'll venture a guess. She wrote: I had a Jay Bennish teaching my tenth-grade "social studies" class in 1973.

Since most people in the tenth grade are around 15 or 16 years old, she would now be 48 or 49.

[beyond the sea]

That's about what I thought. As I said earlier in post 6, I'm 59. It's amazing what about a decade could do to the schools.

(The dumpsters are even harder to get into.)

;-)

[beyond the sea]

Great article............... ping

[ClearCase_guy]

My first brush with this stuff was also in 1973. I had always loved History classes -- they were my favorite. Then, in 1973, we had "social studies" and I kept thinking "Where did the history go?"

We studies moral development theories (a topic for eighth grade?). Dilemmas such as: your daughter is sick, you can't afford the medicine, is it OK to steal the medicine? When I found out that there were "no right answers" I was supremely disappointed. What was the point of studying something in school with no right answer??

[Question_Assumptions]

Time, once again, to post a link to one of my favorite essays by Thomas Sowell.

[GadareneDemoniac]

Less than a decade! I was in college from 1966 - 1970 and the differences between the entering freshman clases from '66 to '70 was profound and, to me, shocking.

"Beach Music" rock-and-roll v acid rock
beer/liquor v pot
girls with traditional morals v girls with ah, "looser" standards
respect for authority v contempt for authority
"Affirmation Viet Nam" (remember that?) v anti-war protests
neat clothing (dry cleaned clothes, socks and shoes) v slobby-looking (torn clothing, barefoot)

I could go on and on about it, but, needless to say, I was damn glad to be out of there. But over the years, I've spent some time pondering what the hell happened to America.

[mass55th]

Thank God I graduated out of the Rochester school system in 1965. I remember Ben Franklin High School. There was no Junior in it at that time. We used to kick their butts on the football field and basketball court each year. Amazing, that in less than 10 years, they managed to take a perfectly good curriculum and turn it to crap. About the only time I can remember a discussion in class being off topic was the day President Kennedy was assassinated.