Christmas! And high school nostalgia
Dec. 27th, 2005 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13Ah, what a lovely season. And what an ecclectic haul of gifts. Among other things, I recieved:
- A set of teflon-coated frying pans
- The first volume of an oral history of my grandfather (as filmed by my mother)
- A pizza cutter (very cool!)
- two fluffy pillows
- a first aid kit (not sure what the message was there)
- A bookcase (which was so nice, I went out and bought three more)
...and oddly most touching of all: a copy of my 10th grade global history textbook.
It's a weird gift, but very dear to me. Global History, sophomore year, remains the best class I have ever taken (my brother, who took it the next year, agrees with me...one of the few things we have in common). The teacher took us from Neaderthals to the Industrial revolution in the span of nine months. Never have I had a more knowledge-intensive course. I learned the 5 pillars of islam (which I can recite to this day), the many dynasties of china (_most_ of which I can recall in order), the Russian revolution, the rise of Buddhism and so much more. The text we used was a college book, Stavrianos, a thick grey book with few pictures but many side-bars.
Looking back, I can't believe the amount of content she made us digest, but I've yet to meet a lecturer who included so much _information_ in their presentations. Raw data. It not only gave me a tremendous overview of history, but taught me how to _manage_ information. Half the class was learning how to take notes...and how _note_ to take notes (hint: they shouldn't be long-hand dictation of the teacher).
She expected results, she expected competence and she spoke to us with a quiet tone demanding respect and maturity. She got it. It was actually a little hard on the Lit teacher we all had next period since, after having knowledge stuffed into our brains with a sharp stick for an hour, we decompressed somewhat rowdily.
Huge multiple choice tests, graded oral finals, a middle east conference...it was a scholastic delight. I'll probably never read Stavrianos again (in honesty, we used it more as a reference in class, than a source book), but I'm strangely glad to have this reminder of a time when learning was _supposed_ to be the focus of my day, rather than an incidental bonus to be encounted in the midst of "real life."
My mother managed to snag a couple copies only because they were being discarded. It makes me rather sad to think that Stavrianos will no longer be a by-word, or rite of passage, within the halls of my alma mater.
- A set of teflon-coated frying pans
- The first volume of an oral history of my grandfather (as filmed by my mother)
- A pizza cutter (very cool!)
- two fluffy pillows
- a first aid kit (not sure what the message was there)
- A bookcase (which was so nice, I went out and bought three more)
...and oddly most touching of all: a copy of my 10th grade global history textbook.
It's a weird gift, but very dear to me. Global History, sophomore year, remains the best class I have ever taken (my brother, who took it the next year, agrees with me...one of the few things we have in common). The teacher took us from Neaderthals to the Industrial revolution in the span of nine months. Never have I had a more knowledge-intensive course. I learned the 5 pillars of islam (which I can recite to this day), the many dynasties of china (_most_ of which I can recall in order), the Russian revolution, the rise of Buddhism and so much more. The text we used was a college book, Stavrianos, a thick grey book with few pictures but many side-bars.
Looking back, I can't believe the amount of content she made us digest, but I've yet to meet a lecturer who included so much _information_ in their presentations. Raw data. It not only gave me a tremendous overview of history, but taught me how to _manage_ information. Half the class was learning how to take notes...and how _note_ to take notes (hint: they shouldn't be long-hand dictation of the teacher).
She expected results, she expected competence and she spoke to us with a quiet tone demanding respect and maturity. She got it. It was actually a little hard on the Lit teacher we all had next period since, after having knowledge stuffed into our brains with a sharp stick for an hour, we decompressed somewhat rowdily.
Huge multiple choice tests, graded oral finals, a middle east conference...it was a scholastic delight. I'll probably never read Stavrianos again (in honesty, we used it more as a reference in class, than a source book), but I'm strangely glad to have this reminder of a time when learning was _supposed_ to be the focus of my day, rather than an incidental bonus to be encounted in the midst of "real life."
My mother managed to snag a couple copies only because they were being discarded. It makes me rather sad to think that Stavrianos will no longer be a by-word, or rite of passage, within the halls of my alma mater.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-28 03:14 am (UTC)In other news next time i see you. i expect pizza (cut with your new cutter)
oh and i finished a few more of your books? How can i get them back to you?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-28 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-28 03:33 am (UTC)What'd you think of "Ramadan"? It's supposed to be one of the more popular entries of the whole series.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-28 03:34 am (UTC)You really had to have had Jagger. I was sad when I heard she retired. I knew Stavrianos wouldn't be able to hold up the whole thing on its own. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 06:40 am (UTC)Ramadan, i actually didnt like. I thought it was kindof boring and i felt really bad for him when he woke up and couldnt remember that his city had been real. yeah and i probably sound really dumb so anyways going to stop talking now.
Sounds like a fun par-tay at your "swinging bachelor pad" what with the book shelves and all. so just tell me when and i shall stop by with books to put on the shelves! rock on!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 10:44 pm (UTC)I'm sorry to hear that, but it's hardly dumb. The style of story-telling was quite stylized. Personally, it's the tie-in to modern-day Iraq that really did it for me. Because of the bargain, no matter how bombed-out and cratered Bagdad becomes, there will be always be an eternal Bagdad in all its glory, because stories are eternal. Ideas are always more powerful and lasting than material things.
...but I'll admit, being a fan of 1001 Arabian Nights certainly helps. It's not a narrative tone to everyone's taste.