Thomas has set society in general back 150 years. Thomas is an equal opportunity corporatist bigot. Reminiscent of the days of robber barons, tenements, and 60 hour work weeks. Poor whites in big cities, especially recent immigrants packed ten to a fifth floor walk up room, were only half a step above the Black tenant farmer in Alabama. The biggest difference being both may be worked into an early grave but the Whites were not generally lynched. And White children had a better chance of escaping poverty.
I took a bunch of AP classes in HS, but only ended up signing up for one or two AP tests, because I wasn't doing well in the classes. Only after the sign-up deadline did we take practice tests, and I ended up with threes, fours, and fives for most of them. But again, that was after the sign-up deadline.
But yeah, I got a head start at U of H myself... until repeated attempts at Organic Chemistry crushed my dreams of a BS in Chemical Engineering. And then repeated attempts (to care about) Statistics, and Compilers, crushed my dreams of a BS in Computer Science. Of course, by that time, I was already contracting as a software engineer, so...
OK, kids. Roughly 35% of American adults have a 4-year degree. Of that, 7% are in History (last time I looked it up). So how many Wonksters here have a BA in History? MA? PhD? Or, if you don't like credentials, how many read 20-30 real history books/year? About the same as the general pop? Better? Worse?
Between a combination of my parents picking a house in an area with good schools[*][**], and no small amount of my own luck, I ended up having multiple really excellent teachers in middle- and high-school. Even if I couldn't be bothered to learn details or do homework -- which of course led to crappy grades -- I still learned the concepts well, and the big-picture arc of history.
[*] Insert rant about how immoral it is that a child's education is so thoroughly determined by their parents' income. Especially when it almost ended up very differently.
High school American history (puke). The teacher was the basketball coach. Excellent coach, horrible history teacher. I had the entire textbook read within the first 30 days of the semester. The good news was that we had the World Book Encyclopedia at home!
I had access to a lot of encyclopedia type history. Hamilton was mainly noted for being killed by Burr. I am only now beginning to suspect he was sidelined partly for being Black. His fundamental contributions to a stable economy were not mentioned enough to be noted. Thanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda. You helped.
A new word! Thanks. I just though Burr was your typical traitor, ya know. Wanted to be king of New Orleans. Should have waited for Mardi Gras.
And both are applicable.
Thomas has set society in general back 150 years. Thomas is an equal opportunity corporatist bigot. Reminiscent of the days of robber barons, tenements, and 60 hour work weeks. Poor whites in big cities, especially recent immigrants packed ten to a fifth floor walk up room, were only half a step above the Black tenant farmer in Alabama. The biggest difference being both may be worked into an early grave but the Whites were not generally lynched. And White children had a better chance of escaping poverty.
I took a bunch of AP classes in HS, but only ended up signing up for one or two AP tests, because I wasn't doing well in the classes. Only after the sign-up deadline did we take practice tests, and I ended up with threes, fours, and fives for most of them. But again, that was after the sign-up deadline.
But yeah, I got a head start at U of H myself... until repeated attempts at Organic Chemistry crushed my dreams of a BS in Chemical Engineering. And then repeated attempts (to care about) Statistics, and Compilers, crushed my dreams of a BS in Computer Science. Of course, by that time, I was already contracting as a software engineer, so...
... their first college-level American History class ...Ahem
OK, kids. Roughly 35% of American adults have a 4-year degree. Of that, 7% are in History (last time I looked it up). So how many Wonksters here have a BA in History? MA? PhD? Or, if you don't like credentials, how many read 20-30 real history books/year? About the same as the general pop? Better? Worse?
Between a combination of my parents picking a house in an area with good schools[*][**], and no small amount of my own luck, I ended up having multiple really excellent teachers in middle- and high-school. Even if I couldn't be bothered to learn details or do homework -- which of course led to crappy grades -- I still learned the concepts well, and the big-picture arc of history.
[*] Insert rant about how immoral it is that a child's education is so thoroughly determined by their parents' income. Especially when it almost ended up very differently.
[**] Klein ISD in the suburbs of Houston.
Sorry yours was so shitty. My degree from the mid-'70's was exactly the opposite. "No marble men. No alabaster saints."
High school American history (puke). The teacher was the basketball coach. Excellent coach, horrible history teacher. I had the entire textbook read within the first 30 days of the semester. The good news was that we had the World Book Encyclopedia at home!
And why Republicans want to ban college.
According to some fuckaduck from Wednesday, it can't be "Western Civilization" since most of it took place in the eastern hemisphere.
Cooning is lucrative
This feels relevant here as well as elsewhere
https://twitter.com/pittgri...
I had access to a lot of encyclopedia type history. Hamilton was mainly noted for being killed by Burr. I am only now beginning to suspect he was sidelined partly for being Black. His fundamental contributions to a stable economy were not mentioned enough to be noted. Thanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda. You helped.
Progress is in the eye of the beholden.
Watch it. I dare you. I like Robards, too, but this is painful.