- Messages
- 22,040
Welcome to our community
Be apart of something great, join today!
Root-Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band: This Date in History
- Thread starter donbosco
- Start date
- Replies: 851
- Views: 37K
- Off-Topic
Thanks a million Don. Brought a tear to my eye.
- Messages
- 1,102
Can't top Dean's passing. Lost a great one there. But this still remains one of the most significant events in our lifetime.(and for you Gen whatevers, affected you too).
British Invasion launched with Beatles' arrival in U.S.
The musical British Invasion began when the Beatles landed in New York City this day in 1964, and two nights later, as Beatlemania stormed America, their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was watched by 73 million viewers.
British Invasion launched with Beatles' arrival in U.S.
The musical British Invasion began when the Beatles landed in New York City this day in 1964, and two nights later, as Beatlemania stormed America, their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was watched by 73 million viewers.
donbosco
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,637
I'm so glad that I could come "down the mountain" for this two weeks later.
- Messages
- 1,102
Great pics there.I'm so glad that I could come "down the mountain" for this two weeks later.
- Messages
- 1,102
James Dean (born February 8, 1931, Marion, Indiana, U.S.—died September 30, 1955, near Paso Robles, California) was an American film actor who was enshrined as a symbol of the confused, restless, and idealistic youth of the 1950s. Although he made few films before his death in a car accident at age 24, his performances, perhaps most notably in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), have proved enduring.
Dean’s family moved from Indiana to California when he was five. Following the death of his mother four years later, Dean returned to Indiana where he was reared on a farm by an aunt and uncle. He moved back to California after high school to study theatre for two years at the University of California at Los Angeles. His first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial, which led to a speaking role as John the Baptist in the television Easter special Hill Number One (1951). He played bit parts in three Hollywood films—Fixed Bayonets (1951), Sailor Beware (1952), and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)—before moving to New York City on the advice of actor James Whitmore, with whom he had briefly studied. After a series of short-term jobs, including a brief period as a “stunt tester” for the CBS game show Beat the Clock, he was cast in a key role in the Broadway flop See the Jaguar (1952). More successful was his sly, insinuating performance as a blackmailing homosexual houseboy in another Broadway production, The Immoralist (1954), a stage adaptation of André Gide’s book.
The Immoralist brought Dean to the attention of film director Elia Kazan, who cast the 23-year-old actor in the leading role of troubled teenager Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), the screen adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel. On the set, Dean perpetuated his reputation for constantly changing his character interpretation and line readings and for deliberately baiting and challenging his fellow actors, including Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, and Burl Ives. When East of Eden premiered, however, Dean was seen as a movie star of the first magnitude and was nominated for an Academy Award; it was the first acting nomination to be granted posthumously
Dean’s second starring film appearance, as sensitive high-school misfit Jim Stark in director Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955), made him into the embodiment of his generation. His character defiantly rejects the values of his elders while desperately aching to “belong” and attempting to find a purpose in life. Dean’s performance spoke eloquently on behalf of disenchanted, disenfranchised teenagers and gave them a hero they could respect and admire. The classic drama also featured Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Dennis Hopper.
Dean was next cast in producer-director George Stevens’s Giant (1956), a drama set on a Texas ranch that also starred Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Shortly after completing the film, the restless Dean drove off in his silver Porsche to compete in a sports car rally in Salinas, California. Speeding down the highway, he crashed headlong into a Ford sedan and was killed instantly. Almost immediately an intensely loyal cult was established, and within days of his death he became a film icon. Both Rebel Without a Cause and Giant were released posthumously, and he received an Oscar nomination for the latter film. The James Dean mystique continued to flourish into the 21st century.
Dean’s family moved from Indiana to California when he was five. Following the death of his mother four years later, Dean returned to Indiana where he was reared on a farm by an aunt and uncle. He moved back to California after high school to study theatre for two years at the University of California at Los Angeles. His first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial, which led to a speaking role as John the Baptist in the television Easter special Hill Number One (1951). He played bit parts in three Hollywood films—Fixed Bayonets (1951), Sailor Beware (1952), and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)—before moving to New York City on the advice of actor James Whitmore, with whom he had briefly studied. After a series of short-term jobs, including a brief period as a “stunt tester” for the CBS game show Beat the Clock, he was cast in a key role in the Broadway flop See the Jaguar (1952). More successful was his sly, insinuating performance as a blackmailing homosexual houseboy in another Broadway production, The Immoralist (1954), a stage adaptation of André Gide’s book.
The Immoralist brought Dean to the attention of film director Elia Kazan, who cast the 23-year-old actor in the leading role of troubled teenager Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), the screen adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel. On the set, Dean perpetuated his reputation for constantly changing his character interpretation and line readings and for deliberately baiting and challenging his fellow actors, including Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, and Burl Ives. When East of Eden premiered, however, Dean was seen as a movie star of the first magnitude and was nominated for an Academy Award; it was the first acting nomination to be granted posthumously
Dean’s second starring film appearance, as sensitive high-school misfit Jim Stark in director Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955), made him into the embodiment of his generation. His character defiantly rejects the values of his elders while desperately aching to “belong” and attempting to find a purpose in life. Dean’s performance spoke eloquently on behalf of disenchanted, disenfranchised teenagers and gave them a hero they could respect and admire. The classic drama also featured Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Dennis Hopper.
Dean was next cast in producer-director George Stevens’s Giant (1956), a drama set on a Texas ranch that also starred Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Shortly after completing the film, the restless Dean drove off in his silver Porsche to compete in a sports car rally in Salinas, California. Speeding down the highway, he crashed headlong into a Ford sedan and was killed instantly. Almost immediately an intensely loyal cult was established, and within days of his death he became a film icon. Both Rebel Without a Cause and Giant were released posthumously, and he received an Oscar nomination for the latter film. The James Dean mystique continued to flourish into the 21st century.
- Messages
- 1,102
For those who don't know the inspiration for the song
Carmen Miranda (born February 9, 1909, Marco de Canaveses, Portugal—died August 5, 1955, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.) was a Portuguese-born singer and actress whose alluring and flamboyant image made her internationally famous.
Miranda’s family moved to Brazil when she was an infant. In the 1930s she became the most popular recording artist in that country, where she also appeared in five films. Recruited by a Broadway producer, she starred in The Streets of Paris (1939) onstage before making her American film debut in Down Argentine Way (1940). Typecast as the “Brazilian Bombshell” and given such caricatural roles as “The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” in Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943), she became the highest-paid female performer in the United States during World War II. Her final Hollywood film was Scared Stiff (1953).
Carmen Miranda (born February 9, 1909, Marco de Canaveses, Portugal—died August 5, 1955, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.) was a Portuguese-born singer and actress whose alluring and flamboyant image made her internationally famous.
Miranda’s family moved to Brazil when she was an infant. In the 1930s she became the most popular recording artist in that country, where she also appeared in five films. Recruited by a Broadway producer, she starred in The Streets of Paris (1939) onstage before making her American film debut in Down Argentine Way (1940). Typecast as the “Brazilian Bombshell” and given such caricatural roles as “The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” in Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943), she became the highest-paid female performer in the United States during World War II. Her final Hollywood film was Scared Stiff (1953).
nashcounty
Distinguished Member
- Messages
- 322
On February 9, 1964 73 million Americans were introduced to The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. They played five songs that night: All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
They don’t dance like Carmen no more- Jimmy Buffett
donbosco
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,637
If you ever get the opportunity to view this film about the life of Carmen Miranda take it!
- Messages
- 1,102
A true Reagan pub.
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
Temple began her film career in 1931 when she was three years old and was well-known for her performance in Bright Eyes, which was released in 1934. She won a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934 and continued to appear in popular films through the remainder of the 1930s, although her subsequent films became less popular as she grew older.[1] She appeared in her last film, A Kiss for Corliss, in 1949.[2][3]
She began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the U.S. at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she worked at the U.S. Mission under Ambassador Charles Yost. Later, she was named U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, and also served as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star.[4] After her biography was published, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992).
Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
Temple began her film career in 1931 when she was three years old and was well-known for her performance in Bright Eyes, which was released in 1934. She won a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934 and continued to appear in popular films through the remainder of the 1930s, although her subsequent films became less popular as she grew older.[1] She appeared in her last film, A Kiss for Corliss, in 1949.[2][3]
She began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the U.S. at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she worked at the U.S. Mission under Ambassador Charles Yost. Later, she was named U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, and also served as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star.[4] After her biography was published, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992).
Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.
donbosco
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,637
Jim Beatty was a Tar Heel Champion many times over. #OTD in 1962 Jim Beatty was the 1st runner to break the 4 minute mile indoors. From Charlotte, he was High School State Champ & a 6-Time All-American @UNC in track & cross country. In ‘62 he was named the nation’s top amateur athlete winning the James E. Sullivan Award.
Champion Miler, Jim Beatty of Charlotte
Jim Beatty. Image from UNC Athletics.On February 10, 1962, Jim Beatty became the first man to run the mile indoors in under four minutes.
www.ncdcr.gov
donbosco
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,637
I always heard that Roberta Flack played at the original Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill but can find no evidence of it AND have asked around of folks who could remember. The Cradle opened in 1969 at any rate and it appears that Flack wasn’t in North Carolina during that time. Just the same Flack is NC-connected because #OTD (Feb. 10) in 1937 she was born in Black Mountain, NC. Flack is a Grammy winning singer, song writer, & pianist. When she was quite young her family moved to Arlington, VA but she maintained her ties with the state with family in Buncombe County. A piano prodigy, she entered Howard University to study music at 15. Graduating at 19, she took a job teaching English & Music for a time Down East in Farmville. She got her break w/Les McCann in 1968 & her album ‘Killing Me Softly’ went Double Platinum in ‘73.
Flack’s first album, ‘First Take,’ was released in 1969 and featured the song’ “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The disc earned critical acclaim but it was not until ‘First Time…’ appeared in the Clint Eastwood directed hit film, ‘Play Misty For Me,’ that it caught on nationally and rose to #1.
There is another, albeit rather tenuous Western North Carolina connection with Flack through the song, “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The tune was written by Scottish folksinger and Leftist Ewan MacColl in the 1950s about Peggy Seeger, also a folksinger (and niece of Pete Seeger). MacColl and Seeger married in 1977. The couple, like so many, were blacklisted during the dark days of McCarthyism. They were cancelled because of their international affiliations with communism. MacColl and Seeger spent many years in England - MacColl passed away in 1989 and a few years after Seeger returned to the US. In 1994 she settled in #Asheville. It seems that in those days the town looked like a safe harbor for an American Dissident. It is not a time period in the town with which I am familiar, not arriving myself until 2013. Maybe someone with greater experience of longer duration in The Land of The Sky can bring some sense of things to this matter in the comments. Eventually though, Seeger moved to Boston (2006) from Asheville and back to England in 2010 where she remains, at 88 still performing and standing for a Leftist worldview.
Flack (88) performed until a November, 2022 announcement that her Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had advanced to the point that she could no longer sing. Seventies Performer Roberta Flack, Native of Black Mountain
- Messages
- 947
- Messages
- 1,102
A sad day for the United States. It gave the deplorables, soon to be MAGAts, their first foothold on the national stage. On the other hand prpobably helped elect O'bama. I am torn between the two.
1964 Sarah Palin—who, as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, was the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket—was born.
Enough said.
1964 Sarah Palin—who, as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, was the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket—was born.
Enough said.
donbosco
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 3,637
Thus one is kinda long.
#OTD in 1795 Hinton James arrived on the UNC campus-The 1st student at the 1st state university. Legend is that he walked from present day Pender County. After Carolina he became a civil engineer and legislator. You can read more on James at this link from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hinton James: First Student at Chapel Hill
When James arrived, three weeks after the official opening of the University on January 15, there was one Professor, David Ker, and two buildings. (Old) East Building stood, its cornerstone had been laid on October 12, 1793 - a date celebrated as University Day on campus - and an unpainted wooden house served as a place for Ker to live. There was, as I understand it, a tavern near where Raleigh, Hillsborough, and East Franklin Streets converge. To this old bartender that seems somehow right. Eventually 40 more young men joined James that first semester. That they were all late for class also somehow seems right.
It has always struck me as one of the many paradoxes of The Tar Heel State that we had led in higher education from the very start yet were such historically consistent laggards in primary and secondary public schooling. I’m not sure, I haven’t studied it enough, about the motivations of those earliest legislators in establishing the first state university. I do know that “on December 18, 1776, delegates to the state's constitutional convention approved Article 41: ‘That a school or schools be established by the Legislature, for the convenient Instruction of Youth, with such Salaries to the Masters, paid by the Public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and all useful Learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more Universities.’”
1795-1819: The Establishment of the University: Electronic Edition.
Today the North Carolina Constitution states in Article 9, Section 9, “Benefits of public institutions of higher education. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.” So much for Originalism of Constitutional Text.
Education always seemed to be abuzz in my world growing up in #DeepChatham. Neither of my parents went beyond high school but I had two teacher-aunts, Burdine and Leisel, that taught me and everyone around them with their every breath. Aunt Burdine was, eventually, Supervisor of Chatham County Schools and Aunt Leisel taught for decades in Bennett (#DeepestChatham). I only recently learned that my Grandfather Floyd Womble had also been a school teacher before taking up surveying. And despite their own brief education my parents were voracious readers and backers of local schools and teachers. There was never a question that I would not go to college. My dream was always Carolina.
I recall the respect held for the work that teachers had put in to achieve their places in front of the classroom. I also remember the high regard that everyone surrounding me showed our teachers for their daily work of educating the community and, of course, local children and teens. Being in the trenches of public instruction meant they were experts on learning. How could that be doubted - after all, they had studied hard, harder than the rest, and more important, continued to do so as life-long learners. As all teachers know - there is nothing quite like teaching to literally make you learn.
Now that did not mean that there was no wisdom outside of the school. Examples of sharp people were certainly all around. I saw it regularly in my Deddy’s hardware store as farmers worked out solutions to the everyday challenges of agriculture on the family farm. ‘The Progressive Farmer Magazine’ always provided ideas. Book-learning seemed to have its esteemed place just the same. The assertion that teachers lived in an “Ivory Tower” was heard from time-to-time and of course the Jesse Helmses of the air belittled the profession exactly because of the impulse, the necessity, if you will, to make learning a living thing, constantly corrected and revised as new information was discovered about old ways and times. The “Ivory Tower” insult has always seemed childishly absurd and simplistic - as if teachers lived in a world devoid of mortgages or taxes or personal liabilities or broken water pumps.
Still, the respect for teachers has nigh onto disappeared today - they - WE - are but contributors to the Social Contract and the common good alongside our fellow citizens. But the enmity so prevalent today in some - I have paid attention to School Board gatherings and viewed many exchanges while reading about others - is elevated. Rather than the historical or the scientific record as established by research, teachers now seem subject to the unique, sundry, and hoodwinked worldviews of a vocal cadre of Extreme Rightist parents as to what they can teach. The inexperienced want to mandate curriculum to the teachers now.
Do teachers have ‘unique worldviews’ as well? No doubt about it. Are they “pushing” those ways of seeing on students? In as much as reality is embedded in subjects such as history, math, chemistry, and geography and reality is the stuff of studying those things and more - then probably so. Teachers are also “pushing” reading and analysis and thinking critically on their students. Sometimes the critiques arrived upon by those students stray from the mainstream. Sometimes those critiques range far from those of their parents. Far more often than not, that is due to good, old fashioned, hard work.
At UNC these days the teachers are being told that they can no longer lead in decisions over what will be taught but rather the Board of Trustees will order such things. The BOT at the behest of the Big Wigs that put them there have created the School of Civic Life and Leadership. “The Wall Street Journal” has praised this “conservative safe space’s”direction as addressing “abstruse woke politics” in the university. () The student newspaper, “The Daily Tar Heel” has brought solid coverage to the affair. Read here for an example: Role of chancellor, provost in proposed UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership unclear
The entire imagining of The Carolina “Anti-Woke Studies” Curriculum smacks of amateur, uninformed, unprepared, Rightist utopian dreaming. And with a current price tag, absolutely guaranteed to skyrocket, of $5 million dollars. ( )
On many of the branch campuses of the UNC System under the direction of the Board of Governors (bosses to the Board of Trustees), administrators have taken their long knives to departments that do not provide properly quantifiable $$$$ “Return On Investment” - A ‘buy-out’ of Professors is afoot in some places - and adjuncts have been terminated. Staff, the tenders of campus infrastructure and providers of multiple student and faculty services face the concrete threat of dismissal. And the consultants and private investigative agencies write their General Assembly commissioned reports. Read here for a critique of the “Return on Investment” study that helped to slice and dice the System: New study looks at "return on investment" of a UNC System education • NC Newsline
And finally a combo NCGA/MAGA mandate has ordered diversity as a concept in coursework a verboten focus prohibited from graduation requirements. Snowflakes rejoice!!
Hinton James purportedly walked from Wilmington to Chapel Hill to gain an education from the teachers there - at the time only David Ker awaited him but over the decades to come thousands of amazing faculty who had studied and researched have taught the students and designed the courses at Carolina and the other System campuses. They have labored over what readings to assign, and in what order, how to fairly test and assess, and spent out-of-class time keeping up with, and contributing to, their disciplines. One has to wonder to what depth the Board of Trustees has delved in thinking through the syllabi for the courses in their new program. What readings by which authors will they assign for such classes? Of course they have not, and will not work on such things. Wonder who they will hire to do that work since the UNC faculty has been cut out of this process?
In the System schools now being required to slash one must also wonder how the Board of Governors’ Bottom Lining of Education will work for the students and children of the state. Quantitative measures have a place but they’re also likely, even prone, to politically self-serving self-fulfilling prophecy. This angle of attack, one surely would make our long-departed Senator No/Helms look up and grin that crooked smile, will bring us low and wrench us for all time from any competitive position among thinkers, but also among dancers, singers, and artists of all stripes. The Leveling of Carolina is in full swing.
One also has to wonder if Hinton James had thought that partisan political appointees would be choosing his course work and limiting his thought horizons to simply ‘Return On Investment’ markers that he might just have headed north, or worse, stopped in Durham for his education.* He was no Snowflake after all - his legendary trek is a testament to that.
*Yes I know that Duke didn’t exist yet.
#OTD in 1795 Hinton James arrived on the UNC campus-The 1st student at the 1st state university. Legend is that he walked from present day Pender County. After Carolina he became a civil engineer and legislator. You can read more on James at this link from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hinton James: First Student at Chapel Hill
When James arrived, three weeks after the official opening of the University on January 15, there was one Professor, David Ker, and two buildings. (Old) East Building stood, its cornerstone had been laid on October 12, 1793 - a date celebrated as University Day on campus - and an unpainted wooden house served as a place for Ker to live. There was, as I understand it, a tavern near where Raleigh, Hillsborough, and East Franklin Streets converge. To this old bartender that seems somehow right. Eventually 40 more young men joined James that first semester. That they were all late for class also somehow seems right.
It has always struck me as one of the many paradoxes of The Tar Heel State that we had led in higher education from the very start yet were such historically consistent laggards in primary and secondary public schooling. I’m not sure, I haven’t studied it enough, about the motivations of those earliest legislators in establishing the first state university. I do know that “on December 18, 1776, delegates to the state's constitutional convention approved Article 41: ‘That a school or schools be established by the Legislature, for the convenient Instruction of Youth, with such Salaries to the Masters, paid by the Public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and all useful Learning shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more Universities.’”
1795-1819: The Establishment of the University: Electronic Edition.
Today the North Carolina Constitution states in Article 9, Section 9, “Benefits of public institutions of higher education. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.” So much for Originalism of Constitutional Text.
Education always seemed to be abuzz in my world growing up in #DeepChatham. Neither of my parents went beyond high school but I had two teacher-aunts, Burdine and Leisel, that taught me and everyone around them with their every breath. Aunt Burdine was, eventually, Supervisor of Chatham County Schools and Aunt Leisel taught for decades in Bennett (#DeepestChatham). I only recently learned that my Grandfather Floyd Womble had also been a school teacher before taking up surveying. And despite their own brief education my parents were voracious readers and backers of local schools and teachers. There was never a question that I would not go to college. My dream was always Carolina.
I recall the respect held for the work that teachers had put in to achieve their places in front of the classroom. I also remember the high regard that everyone surrounding me showed our teachers for their daily work of educating the community and, of course, local children and teens. Being in the trenches of public instruction meant they were experts on learning. How could that be doubted - after all, they had studied hard, harder than the rest, and more important, continued to do so as life-long learners. As all teachers know - there is nothing quite like teaching to literally make you learn.
Now that did not mean that there was no wisdom outside of the school. Examples of sharp people were certainly all around. I saw it regularly in my Deddy’s hardware store as farmers worked out solutions to the everyday challenges of agriculture on the family farm. ‘The Progressive Farmer Magazine’ always provided ideas. Book-learning seemed to have its esteemed place just the same. The assertion that teachers lived in an “Ivory Tower” was heard from time-to-time and of course the Jesse Helmses of the air belittled the profession exactly because of the impulse, the necessity, if you will, to make learning a living thing, constantly corrected and revised as new information was discovered about old ways and times. The “Ivory Tower” insult has always seemed childishly absurd and simplistic - as if teachers lived in a world devoid of mortgages or taxes or personal liabilities or broken water pumps.
Still, the respect for teachers has nigh onto disappeared today - they - WE - are but contributors to the Social Contract and the common good alongside our fellow citizens. But the enmity so prevalent today in some - I have paid attention to School Board gatherings and viewed many exchanges while reading about others - is elevated. Rather than the historical or the scientific record as established by research, teachers now seem subject to the unique, sundry, and hoodwinked worldviews of a vocal cadre of Extreme Rightist parents as to what they can teach. The inexperienced want to mandate curriculum to the teachers now.
Do teachers have ‘unique worldviews’ as well? No doubt about it. Are they “pushing” those ways of seeing on students? In as much as reality is embedded in subjects such as history, math, chemistry, and geography and reality is the stuff of studying those things and more - then probably so. Teachers are also “pushing” reading and analysis and thinking critically on their students. Sometimes the critiques arrived upon by those students stray from the mainstream. Sometimes those critiques range far from those of their parents. Far more often than not, that is due to good, old fashioned, hard work.
At UNC these days the teachers are being told that they can no longer lead in decisions over what will be taught but rather the Board of Trustees will order such things. The BOT at the behest of the Big Wigs that put them there have created the School of Civic Life and Leadership. “The Wall Street Journal” has praised this “conservative safe space’s”direction as addressing “abstruse woke politics” in the university. () The student newspaper, “The Daily Tar Heel” has brought solid coverage to the affair. Read here for an example: Role of chancellor, provost in proposed UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership unclear
The entire imagining of The Carolina “Anti-Woke Studies” Curriculum smacks of amateur, uninformed, unprepared, Rightist utopian dreaming. And with a current price tag, absolutely guaranteed to skyrocket, of $5 million dollars. ( )
On many of the branch campuses of the UNC System under the direction of the Board of Governors (bosses to the Board of Trustees), administrators have taken their long knives to departments that do not provide properly quantifiable $$$$ “Return On Investment” - A ‘buy-out’ of Professors is afoot in some places - and adjuncts have been terminated. Staff, the tenders of campus infrastructure and providers of multiple student and faculty services face the concrete threat of dismissal. And the consultants and private investigative agencies write their General Assembly commissioned reports. Read here for a critique of the “Return on Investment” study that helped to slice and dice the System: New study looks at "return on investment" of a UNC System education • NC Newsline
And finally a combo NCGA/MAGA mandate has ordered diversity as a concept in coursework a verboten focus prohibited from graduation requirements. Snowflakes rejoice!!
Hinton James purportedly walked from Wilmington to Chapel Hill to gain an education from the teachers there - at the time only David Ker awaited him but over the decades to come thousands of amazing faculty who had studied and researched have taught the students and designed the courses at Carolina and the other System campuses. They have labored over what readings to assign, and in what order, how to fairly test and assess, and spent out-of-class time keeping up with, and contributing to, their disciplines. One has to wonder to what depth the Board of Trustees has delved in thinking through the syllabi for the courses in their new program. What readings by which authors will they assign for such classes? Of course they have not, and will not work on such things. Wonder who they will hire to do that work since the UNC faculty has been cut out of this process?
In the System schools now being required to slash one must also wonder how the Board of Governors’ Bottom Lining of Education will work for the students and children of the state. Quantitative measures have a place but they’re also likely, even prone, to politically self-serving self-fulfilling prophecy. This angle of attack, one surely would make our long-departed Senator No/Helms look up and grin that crooked smile, will bring us low and wrench us for all time from any competitive position among thinkers, but also among dancers, singers, and artists of all stripes. The Leveling of Carolina is in full swing.
One also has to wonder if Hinton James had thought that partisan political appointees would be choosing his course work and limiting his thought horizons to simply ‘Return On Investment’ markers that he might just have headed north, or worse, stopped in Durham for his education.* He was no Snowflake after all - his legendary trek is a testament to that.
*Yes I know that Duke didn’t exist yet.
- Messages
- 1,102
I recall a conversation some 40? years ago on television amongst CEOs of major corporations. Basically about what they looked for in business leadership roles. Only one of them had an mba and most majored in the social sciences/humanities - one an english lit guy. They all talked about how critical thinking, diverse interests, knowledge of global affairs, etc. played a bigger part than pure "business" skills in running a corp.
Well, that was then and this is now.
Well, that was then and this is now.
He did. It was uphill both ways.