More Nostalgia
Today I am working on a project that was initiated by a package that arrived yesterday from Cathy Riordan Full. She has come up with three years worth (Grades 4 thru 6) of Art Appreciation project books – remember those old black and white marbled Whitefield Composition books? I am going to scan them in and create a slideshow for the site. Should be done in a couple of days.
After perusing the material, it made me reflect a bit on the unbelievable excellence of the education we got back then for our parents hard-earned $1/month payment to St. Ethelreda.
A couple years back I wrote a column about the Slumming Down of America (Can be read here) following the footsteps of the Dumbing Down of America. It was prompted by being appalled daily at the lack of education evident in the business world here in the Wild West. Don’t know if my classmates in Arizona have felt the same way, but Nevada is truly a barbaric redneck stronghold. (Marianne, where you are doesn’t count. You are surrounded by academia and where Jim Fee is in Portland I never noticed the same depth of ignorance when I lived there because Portland is too much a metropolis.)
I come close to strangling strangers in grocery stores and restaurants when I hear the common use of double negatives that bombards my ears from every quarter and have bitten my tongue bloody to keep from making some acerbic retort that the poor slobs wouldn’t understand anyway.
I think I miss the midwest.
Sue, and 
Jimbo are discussing.
Jimbo 1:45 PM on June 15, 2009 Permalink
Sue,
Good thought. I honestly believe that people with reading, writing and language skills like ours were lumped together in the last election under the the pejorative term, intellectual elitists. Ya know there ain’t many elitist liberals in Crawford, Texas. Its the 1 gallon head in the ten gallon hat phenomenon. Basic educational skills are sadly lacking.
Sue 7:39 PM on June 16, 2009 Permalink
Here is a good example of the corporate irresponsibility that feeds the dumbing of America. Today I was watching some TV and a Smith’s Grocery ad came on with their hype about lowering prices yadda yadda and then they had cameos of “regular customers” touting the greatness of Smith’s. The one that made my head snap up (I was multi-tasking) was a young woman with straggly hair who proclaimed proudly that “Me and my family save lots of money by shopping Smith’s”.
How can you expect people to have an appreciation for education when the corporate giants (Smith’s is part of Kroger) pander to the lowest levels. Appalling!