The Weird Book Moment: when two very different books you're reading suddenly deal with the same example or topic. This doesn't count books on the same subject or set in the same time period - because you'd expect the same references in those. (This will probably happen more often to people who have a habit of reading multiple books at the same time. Once I thought this was a bad habit of mine, but then I decided it was something fun, and I'd just accept and go with it.)

 

This will make more sense once I give you today's example.

 

  I finally picked up Quiet, yet another book on my ereader that's been tapping it's metaphorical foot, annoyed that it's taken me so long to get around to reading it. And there I was, barely into the first chapter when I read (8% in)

 

"...The Chautauqua movement, born in 1873 and based in upstate New York, sends gifted speakers across the country to lecture on literature, science, and religion. Rural Americans prize these presenters for the whiff of glamour they bring from the outside world - and their power to mesmerize an audience."

 

Which is this Chautauqua on wikipedia:

 

"an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Named after Chautauqua Lake where the first was held, Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. Former US President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is "the most American thing in America.""

 

  And I had that link all ready because I was just reading it a few days ago when Chautauqua came up in (one of) the other book I'm reading, Girl Sleuth, which is about the women behind the Nancy Drew books and their biographies. From page 35ish/10 to 11% in:

 

"...Originally a kind of weeklong summer camp for families that specialized in education for Sunday school teachers, reflecting the nation's growing interest in the professionalism of teaching, the nondenominational, through very vaguely Protestant, Chautauqua assemblies soon grew into gatherings that welcomed anyone interested in "education and uplift" in the form of lectures, plays, music, and readings. By the turn of the century, Chautauqua was known as "a center for rather earnest, but high-minded, activities, that aimed at intellectual and moral self-improvement and civic involvement." ...Its adult education courses of study could be followed in one's living room as easily in Iowa as they could in New York, and as graduates of the program went out into the world, spreading the movement's gospel, independent Chautauquas sprung up all over the country. ..."Chautauqua functioned for many lower- and middle-class women much as the elite women's colleges did for upper class women. ...They were training grounds from which women could launch 'real' careers." "

 

That's an example of The Weird Book Moment. There was no way to predict that a book about introverts was suddenly going to cite the same educational movement I'd just read about in a book on Nancy Drew. And now these two books are always going to be inter-connected in my mind, just because of that reference and the fact that I happened to be reading both of them at the same time.

 

Meanwhile the Chautauqua movement is interesting, especially looking back to a time when education was highly valued and there were all sorts of attempts at providing more access to it. As opposed to now when we simultaneously have some folks scoffing at the concept of intellectualism (as a bad thing), many cities/states decreasing funding for public schools even at the elementary level, and the prices of post high school education increasing to ridiculous levels.

A history of the Irish Vocational Educat... There is a book underneath this book, a book about education in Ireland and how it developed, how changes in policy about who should be educated changed an organisation from teaching people how to be better workers to providing secondary education. This, however, is a fairly dry recitation of what the annual congress of the Irish Vocational Education Association and it's predecessors discussed and what government leglisation made changes happen. I extracted some bits for a blog post on my knitting blog here: http://wyvernfriendknits.blogspot.com/2012/05/some-history-of-craft-education-in.html It was about the crafts and a curiousity about the teaching of things like knitting that drew me in, that and a sudden understanding of some of the issues surrounding Kevin Street Libray, a glimpse into the interlinked history of Vocational Education and libraries in Ireland, but the book overall left me wanting more. As a springboard for further research it's useful. The index is not particularly useful for in depth research, it would probably be a great book as an ebook and searchable. The Bibliography is pretty extensive. The other reasons I got sucked into this book are to do with my family history. My mum and dad were both teachers in the vocational education sector and after marriage my mum had to leave work. Many of the policies I saw in the late 20th century affected my father and it was interesting to see the changes. I must admit that I skimmed huge chunks of the text searching for keywords that I was interested in, so I may have missed bits. It's not the easiest read.

No, thank you. Schools do not need more input from religion, the community, or the family. As an example of this folly, I give you: sex education, where the US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy of any industrialized nation; where community and religious standards lead to abstinence-only programs which are not only free of actual facts, but actively promote doctrine which is demonstrably false, leading to the highest rate of STDs among teens in any industrialized nation. Frankly, anyone who calls modern US public education "prison" is an historical idiot, and would do well to spend 12 or 16 hour days down a mine or working in a sweatshop, or as a slave picking cotton, or perhaps in a workhouse, or just starving on the streets.

Simply THE best book on what is going on in the American educational system, and why it is the way it it. John Taylor Gatto has the credentials to speak to this. He lived the life of a teacher in New York City, and was named Teacher of the Year on 3 different occasions. He quit his teaching job when he decided he didn't want to hurt children anymore, and he saw the results of the public education system on his students. He provides a stunning and well documented history of why education is the way it is in America. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended. I re-read this book from time to time, just to remember what the goal in educating our children really SHOULD be.Check out his website at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm for more articles and more information.