I am a retired high-school English teacher, having taught in New York City and Albuquerque, NM.
When I was in the sixth grade, we were diagramming sentences, and when I taught at a Seventh-Day Adventist Academy, Wilmington, NC -- back in the day -- I actually taught diagramming sentences; examples were displayed in the back of the English book.
As a matter of fact, we used to have spelling bee contests: boys vs the girls, and I remember the word that tripped me up in the fifth grade. I was asked to spell, shirt....and I spelled it...shit.
I will never forget the laughter of the students, not understanding why they were laughing -- so innocent!
I am a retired high-school English teacher, having taught in New York City and Albuquerque, NM.
When I was in the sixth grade, we were diagramming sentences, and when I taught at a Seventh-Day Adventist Academy, Wilmington, NC -- back in the day -- I actually taught diagramming sentences; examples were displayed in the back of the English book.
As a matter of fact, we used to have spelling bee contests: boys vs the girls, and I remember the word that tripped me up in the fifth grade. I was asked to spell, shirt....and I spelled it...shit.
I will never forget the laughter of the students, not understanding why they were laughing -- so innocent!
Welcome to the Age of High Anti-intellectualism!
Efforts to be intelligent - according to the general populace - are just a way to make yourself look "better" than others, serving no real practical purpose. Should you invent the next tech gadget, however, or find a cure for a certain disease, society might cut you some slack. Otherwise, you're just an intellectual snob who has probably never worked a whole day in his entire life.
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge'."
― Isaac Asimov