Political fall-out

Spent time at AskJeeves finding info suitable for eight-year-olds about the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. I asked the kids to find out all about it before our class on Wednesday, and they are pumped. We are going to use the Bermuda Triangle idea as an introduction to positive/negative flip-flops (cutting a bite out of a triangle piece of paper along its edge, then pivoting the bite out into the negative space). For the last forty years I've always heard and called these art projects "flip-flops", but now Karl Rove and the Swift Boat guys have ruined that term forever. I don't know what to call those cheap rubber beach sandals formerly known as "flip-flops" either. When I was a kid we called them "thongs", but that is a pretty scary term these days, too.

This wouldn't be an issue, except that I spend a lot of time asking students to refrain from wearing cheap rubber beach sandals (CRBS) and other shoes that won't stay on during rehearsals and shows. It's a safety issue when kids are wearing costumes and climbing up and down the steps to the stage. I get a lot of mileage telling how my son broke his arm falling off the stage in summer school once, even though that accident didn't actually involve CRBS.

My elementary school principal passed away recently at the age of ninety-three. Miss Baker was a very sensible person, and I wish she could have been cloned. We learned so much at Eastridge Elementary in the Sixties, partly because she didn't allow time to be wasted with shoes that fall off, Valentine cards with candy, or the silly "incentives" (stickers, candy, and toys) thought to be essential in teaching today. We knew from Day One of kindergarten that if we brought toys in our pockets to school, they would be confiscated as "nuisance items". Our parents understood from Day One of kindergarten that learning is a child's job, and that school clothes should reflect that on-the-job attitude. "School clothes" were changed for "play clothes" when we got home. We understood that different behaviors and wardrobes were needed for different activities. It wasn't a torture chamber. We just knew that the fun of school was derived from learning and applying what we learned. I wonder what Miss Baker thought about the changes she saw in schools after her retirement in 1976.