The things I didn't learn in school

[scwilliams at cji.net]

Hey All
I took a class on Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens at the University of Maryland,
Germany Campus.  I really enjoyed one of his little read books, A Tramp
Abroad.  We were able to visit some of the places he visited which helped
understand the book a little better.

I have a minor in history only because I took so many classes in history
just for fun.  While in Germany, I took a class just on WWII.  We were able
to visit many of the main battle sites and a few less known sites.  We had
speakers from both sides of the war.  It was very interesting and
informative.  My German landlord flew a spy plane.  They were very ashamed
when they discovered that Hitler was such a bad man.  They had Jewish
neighbors that just disappeared.  At the time they thought they had just
moved they never say anything unusual or disturbing happening.  They lived
in a very quiet neighborhood.  Their description of their life during the
war doesn't match any of the Hollywood pictures.

Just thought I would share.  

Sandy Williams
Direct: 501-570-8076
Fax: 501-565-3081
"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, 
change the way you think about it." - Mary Engelbreit

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Perry [mailto:jperryl at ecs.fullerton.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 7:53 PM
To: Revolution in Education
Subject: Re: The things I didn't learn in school

Lisa,

I suppose I was a bit of an oddball... I took as many courses as I could,
regardless of whether or not they helped me graduate any earlier.  I read
Mill's On Liberty on my own; I sought out classes in Chaucer, Milton,
Medieval - Renaissance English literature, art history (ancient to
Renaissance) lots of history ('twas my major) and spent alot of time
flunking out of physics.

I find it funny that you prefer history without images.  In my spare time
for the last 25+ or so years, I have researched the life of Chaucer's
sisster-in-law, Katherine Swynford.  I probably now spend about as much
time locating images as data.  (A) it's what other people want to see, and
(B) I find that I enjoy it as well: how to decode old tombs, MS
illuminations, etc.

You know, and I actually _enjoyed_ my years in college studying various
different things.  Doesn't seem to be the case with my own students,
though.

Judy

 On Thu, 28 Jul 2005, Lisa Westbrook wrote:

> Judy,
>
> I am chuckling, because it's not just in college that there is stuff
> I didn't learn but should have!
>
> Here's just a few from my working list of texts I wish I had been
> exposed to in High School..... ;- )
>
> 1. Ozymandias (which I think should be the poem hanging on the wall
> in every city planners office)
> 2. Kant's Perpetual Peace document about intelligent decision making
> at the local and state level
> 3. Franklin's Information to Those who Would Remove to America (1782)
> 4. The Background of Modern Poetry  by J. Isaacs (1952)
> 5. On Liberty by J.S. Mill (1859)
> 6. Mind Tools, The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality by Rudy Rucker
> (1987)
> 7. Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, J.A. Rickard and Albert Hyma
> (1957) -
> (this little history gem is in chronology format, text only, without
> distracting and unrelated graphics,
>   I'd choose it over a pile of modern history textbooks)
>
> I feel I am just now learning though I am nearly half a century old!

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