1966 Education - For Fun & Perspective

Current events, COVID-19, and the steps we are taking to control it will be remembered by the young population for their entire lives.

We have been challenged before, as a nation, and we have always come together and become stronger in the end.

I hope you will enjoy these images from an educator magazine from 1966.  As hard as it will be to keep our children "schooled", it still won't be as difficult as it was in 1966. We've come a long way baby...

On page 78, there is a section called Humor in the Classroom
I'm going to share these between the ads.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, my kindergarten class learned the song "Over the River and Through the Woods."  "Why does the song indicate that people had to take a horse and sleigh in order to go to grandfather's house?"  I asked.

     One practical-minded five-year-old replied, "Probably it was too cold and snowy for their cars to start."  - Ilse Riesenfeld, Roosevelt, N.J.

When I asked my sixth-grade pupils to write short essays or poems about what they were thankful for, this was one I received:  "I'm thankful for my mother, I'm thankful for my dad, I'm even thankful for my sister I wish Mom hadn't had."  -Mrs. John Liu, Bloomington, Ind.

During music, I paused to make sure my third-graders understood the words in "America the Beautiful."  "What does 'fruited plain' mean?"  I asked.
     Little Jackie explained, sweetly, "That's a jet carrying apples and oranges."  - Deanna J. Kriesel, Pomona, Calif.

A Kindergarten teacher sent the following message to all parents of her pupils at the beginning of the school term:
     "I'll promise not to believe everything your child says happens at home if you promise not to believe everything he says happens at school."  -Herm Albright, Indianapolis, Ind.

In first-grade social studies class, we were studying about Eskimos.  I asked the group if anyone knew what a husky was.
     One boy volunteered, "That's what my dad calls my mom."  -Rozella Glanzer, Huron, S. Dak.

During a discussion of what everyone in the class planend to do over the weekend, I commented that I really didn't have anything special to do.
     A sixth-grade boy offered, "You can come out to our place and help my dog and me catch field mice."  -Linda Raymond, Broken Bow, Nebr.

When one of my fourth-graders suddenly became ill during lunch period, a classmate came running to report:
     "Anita is in the nurse's office.  She disagreed with something she ate!"  -Myrtice E. Coffman, Chino, Calif.

While screening the hearing of a group of third-graders, I was busy recording results of one child's test.  The next boy was putting on the earphones that are marked right and left.  I looked up to find he had them reversed.
     I said, "Stewart, you have them on the wrong ears"
  He quickly replied, "I haven't any other ears."  -Mrs. D.S. Kellsey, Ballston Lake, N.Y.

A kindergarten teacher was explaining about planting seeds and how the result would be the same as the seed planted.  "If you palnt a corn seed, you will get a corn plant; from a sunflower seed, you wil get a sunflower plant. Bring in some seeds and we will plant them," she suggested.
     "Great!" a boy exclaimed enthusiastically.  "I'll bring in some bird seed." - Catharine Voll, Cleveland, Ohio

 One day the school nurse was to check children for ringworm of the scalp, she assigned a boy to act as "runner" from one classroom to another.  I was engrossed in helping a group of pupils with fractions when the boy whirled into my fifth grade classroom and exclaimed, "Mr. Janes, the nurse wants to see the children to have their head examined."  -Edward Janes, Joliet, Ill.

1950 Interesting People WILLIE LEE BUFFINGTON

From THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE
October 1950

As Willie Lee Buffington, now a professor of sociology at Paine College, Augusta, Ga., and founder of a unique chain of libraries, was growing up on a worn-out South Carolina farm, about all he had was a goal and a friend.  His goal was an education and his friend was Eury W. Simpkins, a Negro schoolteacher who encouraged Willie, the white boy, and even helped him financially out of his tiny salary.

Well, Willie got his book learning and never forgot his friend.  When "Uncle Eury" got a new school building some years ago, he found himself without books. Willie decided to help.  He had one thin time and a lot of faith. He bought five 2-cent stamps - this was in 1932 - and wrote to 5 ministers chosen at random, asking each to send him one book.  Four never answered, but the fifth sent Willie 1,000 books, and "Uncle Eury" loaded his shelves. There was an overflow and, at a community meeting, neighbors in Saluda, S.C., volunteered to build a small library called Faith Cabin Library.  That was the beginning, and since then 61 rural communities in South Carolina and Alabama have built libraries for Negros, and Willie has stacked each one with at least 2,00 books.  The people of these communities, sparked by Willie, have contributed to build the libraries of logs, shingles, or brick.  They have financed them by selling lumber or home-grown vegetables, by missionary donations, Board of Education grants, raffle sales, and individual contributions. Every day Willie receives hundreds of volumes from church groups, civic organizations, colleges, women's clubs, and individuals. He feels knowledge is the answer to one of the most pressing of the South's problems.  He wants to see a library near every Negro school in the Deep South.

Willie got his own education the hard way, working his way through school as a mill and farm hand.  He now has a Master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.  He is shown here presenting a fresh crop of children's books to Mrs. Mamie Sapp Dye, librarian at Elberton, Ga., while youngsters watch with interest.

*******NOTE********
If anyone in the Elberton, GA area can find a relative of Mamie Sapp Dye (if they still live in the area) OR a relative of Willie Lee Buffington...I would love to get the actual page from the magazine to them.  I think it would even look nice in a library in the area as I'm sure some of the children in the picture might be recognized.  This is such a great piece of history!