tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post1297007556436274244..comments2024-03-14T04:07:39.792-07:00Comments on Earl Pomerantz: Just Thinking...: "Shop"Earl Pomerantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963705121297866334noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-78651174075171864292011-12-07T11:22:04.467-08:002011-12-07T11:22:04.467-08:00Earl - I had a Linear Algebra final exam in colleg...Earl - I had a Linear Algebra final exam in college that I performed poorly on, but was graded incorrectly by the instructor. This artificially inflated grade on the final exam allowed me to skate by with a barely passing grade for the course. <br /><br />To this day, my life long friend who also struggled through the course with me, will not let me forget that I didn't point out the incorrect scoring to my instructor. He might be slightly resentful that his own low score on the final exam caused him to post a "D" grade for the semester. <br /><br />Needless to say, Linear Algebra was the last advanced math course either of us took in college.cjdahl60https://www.blogger.com/profile/18410008032151744992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-61951776080429327112011-12-06T17:03:11.295-08:002011-12-06T17:03:11.295-08:00When I was in junior high (7th and 8th grade) our ...When I was in junior high (7th and 8th grade) our public school decided to change things up and have girls take "Shop" and boys take "Home Ec".<br />The boys were horrified and we were cautiously curious. I was terrified. I wanted to learn, but the equipment was overwhelming. Our only project was to make a corner shelf. I was having major difficulty getting the two sides of the little structure together as I was unable to get a nail thru the boards. Turns out the teacher had given me one piece of pine and the other of cherry. He had to drill holes for me. The I cut my finger on the saw and he had to bandage it. He felt awful about my getting hurt and I believe that I got an A in this class primarily because of his guilt. But I still have that shelf. It's hanging in my dining room right now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-86129288132289294872011-12-06T11:44:20.498-08:002011-12-06T11:44:20.498-08:00Earl
While you were tackling the manual arts in va...Earl<br />While you were tackling the manual arts in vain, I was in the other half of that building learning to make such un-Jewish gourmet delights as "apple pan dowdy" (the name says it all) and something that never-ever occurs in ethnic cuisine: "white sauce". That and learning to needlepoint little guest towels for our non-existent powder rooms and hemming homemade aprons rounded out the curriculum for girls. <br />No beanie issues, but my teacher, an old lady (whose name, like everything else, escapes me) who sported her breasts low down over her waistband, snatched my copy of "Marjorie Morningstar" from my grip in disgust. <br />"You'll have plenty of time for THAT sort of thing when you're older," she scolded. She was wrong about that.....too!<br />There is a lot of talk, these days about how ill-prepared today's students are for "the future". It seems to me that very little of what or how we learned in the 50's and 60's had much bearing on the world we eventually faced as adults.<br />For example, when is the last time you needed to know that Maurice "The Angel" Tillit had acromegaly?PGhttp://wwwtobigordon.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com