The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round...

Our class discussion today seemed to hit on some of these ideas. 

All these things actually happened one day when I was gone from school. 

Apparently, everything y'all needed to know you really did learn in kindergarten!

Today, in preparation for our discussion of scholasticism, we had you think about and discuss your thoughts about some school related topics. We learned a lot! It seems the majority of you feel like you pretty much everything you really need to know by about 7th grade. Also, you feel like school doesn't do much to get you ready for just being an adult. Lots of folks want to see "basic life skills" as part of what is taught. Not really sure what that means, but I imagine it has something to do with preparing you for being a functioning adult. 

This was a reoccurring theme today in class. I have quite literally done the last one. 

Really, Really Old School

After talking about school nowadays, we took some time to talk about the advent of universities and schooling in Post-Classical Europe. 

As you should recall from the short video clip, schools began with the Church serving its own needs by educating the clergy. But, as medieval society evolved, you saw the growth of lay learning to meet the needs of strong leaders who needed bureaucrats for their government and the growing cities need for an educated professional class. With these changes, we get the development of universities. 

I'm pretty sure this is a lot of you tonight with your manuscript. 

Check out homeboy asleep in the back. Nice. 

Of course, based on these images, I have no idea what the heck those people were learning...

What are these cats doing? 

Soundtrack of the Week

I hope enjoyed the groovy jams of The Talking Heads yesterday! I got so fired up with the post, I had to listen to them on the way home from school. Good stuff!
Today's socially conscious song comes to us from the hardest workin' man in show business... the godfather of soul... Mr. James Brown!
Brown's impact on popular music today is incalculable. There are more songs than you can imagine that sample beats and rhythms from his music. In addition, his bravado and stage presence set the standard for live performance. He is a legend and someone you absolutely must spend some time listening to.
In 1968, amid political unrest and the emotionally charged civil rights movement, Brown released "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" as a single. It was later included on one of his albums. It spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Soul/R&B chart, and it eventually became sort of an unofficial anthem for the Black Panther Party. He structures the song using a call and response chorus of children from the Compton and Watts area of Los Angeles. Brown was one of the biggest stars in music at this point, so using his stardom to advance the cause of social justice was a really big deal. The song's positive themes of back empowerment and tenacious struggle struck a chord with people across all sorts of racial boundaries. Plus, like everything that Brown does, IT IS FUNKY!
Here is "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud."