sixth grade
I'm reading Tuck Everlasting with the sixth graders; we're having a bit of a class discussion about aging, immortality, and death. I'm sure this helps them sleep well at night. Anyway, I asked them all to tell me what they thought they would be doing ten years from now...twenty years from now...sixty years from now...and one boy proudly volunteered "Twenty years from now, I'll still be a momma's boy!"
Also, apparently, most of the girls want to get a college education and raise a family, and most of the boys want to be a Jedi and/or assassin. Hmm. Well, there's a relationship advice book waiting to happen...girls are from Earth, boys are from the PLANET OF THE EXPLODING NINJA-PIRATES!
high school
The upper grades are taking a standardized multi-subject evaluation type test. I, the unfortunate test proctor, am reading the fillinthebubble directions in a bored monotone. All is going well until we get to the part where, under SEX, you fill in either M or F. After that, the proctoring instructions direct you to ask the students "Do you have any questions about how to fill out this section?" I read that out loud, and started giggling hysterically. As did my class. As it turns out, none of them wanted help in picking a gender, so on to the next section.
3 Comments:
Man is meant for strenuous endeavors, for monumental expeditures. It is in our nature, our very make-up. Therein lies the appeal of wars and heros, of occupations requiring greatness. If the inclination is not harnessed a man becomes a beast, if it is neglected he becomes a coward.
Hence the success of the movie "Fight Club" with it poignant quotation:
"We're the middle children of history.... no purpose or place. We have no Great War, no Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives."
God bless all young jedis and assassins.
Actually, I do prefer reading the boy's stories/poems, gruesome as they are...at least they have a wealth of descriptive detail. Boys aren't prosaic thinkers, that's for sure.
It's too bad that their taste for triumph and adventure will be gratified by constant video game playing in a few years.
'Man is meant for strenuous endeavors, for monumental expenditures.'
That's the best thing I've read in weeks. Sounds like Mark Helprin.
BTW, hi, I'm Chris. Stumbled across the TAC blogs recently -- you folks are a breed apart. Well-read and funny. Acerbic wit without the nihilism. It's refreshing.
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