A Million Mrs. Cooks (inspired by the Frog & Toad diary)

As a fan of the wonderful "Frog & Toad" stories, I was touched (and disturbed) by teacherken's diary about the dumbing down of public school reading by NCLB.

The tale of woe relayed by the author of the piece referred to by teacherken reminded me of a similar thing that happened to me in the 4th grade, some 25+ years ago. I was going to just write this as a comment in his diary, but  it got to be kind of lengthy, so I figured it might be a nice spin-off diary for dKos members to post other "cringe material" from their youth.

When I was in the 4th grade (long before the hateful NCLB program), we had the standard reading groups--"Gold" "Silver" and "Brown". I won't even go into the symbolism of labeling those with poor reading skills as being "brown" (even back then, it always bothered me that they didn't at least call it the "bronze" group, which would've been more logical...I didn't think of any racist reasoning until years later). In any event, I was proudly in the "Gold" group.

The book we were reading throughout spring was called "Snow Treasure" by Marie McSwigan (I looked it up and found it on Amazon). It was basically about a village in Norway occupied by the German army during WWII; the town has some gold bullion which they need to smuggle out to the Allies in order to prevent it from falling into Nazi hands, so they devise a plan to have the towns' children smuggle the gold down to the shore one brick at a time, hidden in their sleds as they played in the snow.

I recall it as being a pretty riveting story. Unfortunately, we were only "allowed" to read one chapter per day (or perhaps it was per week?), which would be my undoing.

My cousin's Bat Mitzvah, in another state, came up in the middle of the schoolyear, and my parents decided to take the family on a week-long trip. I got permission to take the week off and was given my homework assignments in advance to work on during the trip--including reading the next chapter in the book.

As you've probably already guessed, I was so enthralled with this story that I read the whole rest of the book (according to Amazon it's only 156 pages long), and returned the following Monday having finished the story. I mentioned this in passing to one of my fellow Gold reading group students.

So, the time came for us to break into groups to discuss the topic of the week, which in this case was...wait for it...foreshadowing. Our teacher called on me to predict what would happen next in the story, leaving me in a pretty obvious dilemma. Before I could say anything, my bigmouthed "friend" decided to shoot her mouth off and blab about me reading the whole book.

So, here you have a 4th-grader who is so excited about reading and who enjoys it so much that he willingly goes above and beyond the "homework"-- while on vacation--to finish a real book. Most teachers would be thrilled by this, yes? Perhaps have me sit out the "foreshadowing" discussion for the day, but otherwise, this is a GOOD thing, right?

Not to Mrs. Cook. She decided to chew me out in front of the rest of the class for not following the rules (to only read one chapter). Then she kicked me out of the Gold group and into the Brown group (which basically consisted of kids who were just beyond special needs) as punishment for the rest of the year.

I'm not trying to cry on anyone's shoulder--it's 25 years later, I'm a happily married, successful website developer and I've been an avid reader my whole life. However, I have a 1-year old son now, and every time I think about the future and visualize him in the first/second/third grades and beyond, this particular memory comes back vividly and angers me all over again.

What the F*CK was wrong with that woman? Didn't she realize that a child who's excited about reading is a treasure to be ENCOURAGED, not berated?

NCLB is nothing more than forcing the nations' teachers to become a million Mrs. Cooks.

For the record, I read a Frog & Toad story to my son every night (he won't understand the stories for a couple more years, but he likes the sound of my voice as I read them at bedtime).

•  These stories are all so horrifying to me.

  In fourth grade I had a wonderful teacher whose idea of reading instruction was this: for each book report turned in - and she expected three or four good pages - we could opt out of whatever activity or class for that day we liked. In my case it was usually penmanship, which was fine with her. She'd thrown in that towel already.

  We were also free to ransack the old high school library in the basement.

  It rapidly turned into a kind of race, which she tried halfheartedly to discourage, between a few of us who eventually were doing three a week.

  by melvin on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:03:34 PM PDT

•  Learing to QUESTION AUTHORITY ...

  When in 1st grade, I had a spelling test.

  We had a set of pictures and were to write the words to go with the picture.

  One was a bird flying over a lobster boat.

  I, knowing exactly what I was looking at, wrote the obvious and clear answer: "SIEGEL".

  The teacher told me I was wrong and it was spelled another way.

  No, I told her, she was mistaken. That I knew the bird and I knew how to spell it: SIEGEL.

  For spelling "sea gull" the correct way (SIEGEL), I spent that year in the slow readers' group.

  And, years later, I stumbled across a "QUESTION AUTHORITY" button, which became a fashion accessory for years to come based on that 1st grade experience.

  by A Siegel on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:04:59 PM PDT

  •  A friend who is now a professor cried

    tears of rage in first grade over a test answer marked "incorrect".  Asked to put down the letter with which each item pictured began, he put "B" for "Bullfrog". It was marked incorrect, as the expected answer was "F" for "Frog". The teacher wouldn't even listen to him.

    Fortunately, his parents, his friends, and everyone else did. We told him he was right.

    And he was.

    So many, many stories like this.

    And yet, there was Mrs. Bennett and her "Avenue Baby College" in New Orleans long ago, who taught our whole kindergarten class to read and count money by Christmas break. So we spent the rest of the year preparing a spectacularly fun end-of-the-year show for our parents. She had no certification. She was just a gifted and wonderful teacher. There are many, many gifted and wonderful teachers like her.

    Mrs. Bennett--I still remember you. And I have my framed certificate from the "Avenue Baby College", right next to the ones for my Doctorate and Postdoc. It means just as much. I learned to love learning there. And I learned that school was fun!

    by means are the ends on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:07:18 PM PDT

    •  "avian" marked as incorrect

      on my eight-year-old's schoolwork.  He was supposed to list the living things in the picture.  He said "avians" instead of "birds" and got it marked as incorrect.  I think his teacher doesn't know the term.

      We choose our battles carefully.

      by mamamedusa on Tue May 01, 2007 at 07:17:25 AM PDT

    •  Wrong test answer

      in kindergarten I remember a sort of intelligence test for pre-readers. The teacher read questions aloud, and we had to circle the correct picture on the answer sheet.

      Q: What could a person with a broken leg use the help them walk?

      A1: a crutch (correct)
      A2: a wheelchair (could help person to get around, but not to walk)
      A3: a steam locomotive.

      This was 1960, there still were a few steam locomotives in those days.

      I circled the locomotive. I knew it was wrong, but I love trains so much I couldn't bear not to choose it!

      by MyBrainWorks on Sat May 05, 2007 at 09:03:47 AM PDT

•  It is wonderful that you read each night

  That is the true treasure worth more than gold.  My son does the same for my grandchild and she counts on it.  

  I enjoyed that Snow Treasure book, too. In 1954, I was in fourth grade and I was reading Pecos Bill under my desk during school hours.  I still answered the teacher's questions and I had read the lesson ahead, but I laughed out loud which was my undoing.

  This lady was kinder than yours.  She made me bring the book up to her and said she would read a chapter each day to everybody.  Of course, I had to wait, but it was kindly done.

  We didn't have reading groups.  In second grade, I read Tiny Toosie's birthday fifty times when I had free time. The teacher made me promise if I read ahead I must not act bored when we read it in class each week.  I see she was kind, too.  Tiny went on vacation and rode the train which fascinated me. We didn't have a library in the room to choose other stories.

  I guess I have never been able to stop reading a good book.  :)

  by cfk on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:05:12 PM PDT

  •  Thanks; I actually started reading...

    ...to him before he was born :)

    Both my wife and I are huge sci-fi/fantasy nuts, mostly; between the two of us we have probably close to 3,000 paperbacks. Her dad has another couple thousand as well.

    Our son has, at 14 months, already started taking an interest in literature: he crawls up to the bookshelves and pulls books off one by one every day, which I then get to put back again :)

    (ok, it's not quite READING, but at least he's interested in the books...)

    by Brainwrap on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:21:45 PM PDT

    •  His own shelf

      with all his books, I hope...no?

      When my first son was two I put the lipstick and powder I had used to make him a clown for Halloween on the top shelf of six big shelves of books above the changing table...mostly paperbacks.

      He kept wanting to be a clown again and I kept saying we had to wait until Halloweeen...ok that was dumb...really, really dumb on my part.

      You guessed it...I heard a crash.  He had climbed up the shelves and he was on the floor applying lipstick sitting on top of a stack of books...unhurt thank god!!  

      I have a picture.  

      My three year old grandbaby loves her own books and is getting better at lasting through a story with all the words in it.

      She likes to say the words to some stories...I will say..."All the penguins liked the cold", and she will say, "But not Pablo!!!"

      Ages and stages and all such fun!!!  

      by cfk on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:50:51 PM PDT

      •  Kids love to have their own books handy.

        We put some in a big basket on the floor. I would often find my daughters sitting and looking through them, examining the pictures, even when they were much too young to read.

        Turning the pages, looking at the colors and pictures, naming things--these all will lead to reading later. And will add to the memory of pleasant times with books!

        by means are the ends on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:13:06 PM PDT

•  Aaargh! My stories.

  I learned to read before Kindergarden because I was impatient waiting for somebody to the funnies to me, plus I was precocious. The Kindergarden teacher took my book away from me and announced solemnly, "We don't read in Kindergarden, we read in First Grade"...My mother said I didn't pick up a book for a year.

  Then, in Second Grade one of my classmates--one of my favorite sweet classmates--recommended a certain book. I started to read it, but the teacher took it away from me because I'm supposed to be smart and it was an easy book. Never mind the social bonding of sharing literature, eh?

  I hated school until I got to college.

  by LNK on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:37:41 PM PDT

  •  That is terrible!

    I still love easy books!  I am so sorry !

    by cfk on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:52:27 PM PDT

  •  I have some similar stories to yours

    In first grade, we were given our Dick and Jane books.  I can't remember which one we started with, but I started reading it as soon as it was passed to me.  I remember the teacher calling me because I was so deep into the book.  "What are you doing  now?  We are on page 3!"  I just dreamily replied, "Well, I'm on page 27."  Teacher walked over to my desk and asked me to read page 27, so I did.  She left me alone after that (well, for that day, anyway.)

    In fifth grade I changed schools and the librarian refused to check out "easy books" to me.  She kept giving me "harder" books that I didn't like.  The only one that caught my interest was an Andre Norton book.

    The Music Room.

    by madhaus on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:29:26 PM PDT

•  How many young minds

  are going to be killed by teachers like these?

  And what would they have done with me -- who learned to read at 2-1/2, read "Winnie the Pooh" to her older cousins at Christmas when she was 5, and tested as reading at college level in 6th grade (all my earlier test scores were destroyed in an office fire, but I'm sure they were similar)? I've never been able to stop at a single chapter if it's a good book -- I devour books, and have been known to read an entire book at a single sitting (even with the spouse telling me to "put down the book and get to bed, sweetie."). I'd likely have joined you in the Brown Group...we could've passed notes to each other like I did with my friend Steven (RIP SLY) in college Philosophy.

  I don't remember Snow Treasure; the WWII novel I still remember was Twenty and Ten about a Catholic school in France that sheltered ten Jewish children.

  Perhaps by the time your child reaches school, we'll have regained a modicum of sanity in this country when it comes to education...but if not, make sure you allow him plenty of time for fun reading -- and I'm sure you and your wife will set a good example. :)

  by Cali Scribe on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 09:46:10 PM PDT

  •  I also read Twenty and Ten

    Also in sixth grade I had to read Escape from Warsaw and refused to finish it because it was about Nazis.  Too close to home - my father is escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 and most of his family were not so lucky.  I was told those stories at much too young an age and any mention of Nazis sent me into literal shivers.

    My daughter's middle school drama club performed "Number the Stars" which is about the Nazi occupation of Denmark and a girl helping her best friend hide from the Nazis trying to round up all the Jews.  I still got the quivers reading that book, and I'm just glad she can read it without my reaction.

    The Music Room.

    by madhaus on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:32:46 PM PDT

•  I teach my own curriculum, fortunately

  I am lucky to be able to teach my own curriculum in English writing, so I have Orwell, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and  a lot of JK Rowling on the agenda, with Robert Hunter joining the Bard on poetry, and Lakoff-based discussions of metaphor and framing. The kids love the class, which includes Bushisms and Colemanballs every week. The kids love the class and have become much better readers and writers.

  Even the grammar lessons encourage questioning authority, as you can see from my website.

  by MakeChessNotWar on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:14:55 PM PDT

  •  That is a very cool website!

    And so glad to see you've recovered well. Looking forward to exploring it more in the future, though probably not the chess sections -- I fear any possible love of chess was tainted when I was in high school by an asshole who beat me mercilessly, then did even worse things...but that's another story for another day...

    by Cali Scribe on Tue May 01, 2007 at 04:28:25 AM PDT

•  The Mrs. Cook in my life was the math teacher

  Mrs. Milliron.  She was always yelling at me to stop doodling and pay attention to math class.

  Now in my (wonderful) English class, we were all making our own books.  We wrote stories, made illustrations, copied the story and pictures onto book pages, sewed up the pages, made covers, put the pages in the covers - a really cool project with your very own self-published book as the result.

  When I finished my "final" story, I was so proud of it that I took it to each class to admire it, waiting for English so I could sew the pages together.

  Mrs. Milliron (remember her?  she told me to stop doodling?) came over to my desk, picked up my story, shouted, "I have told you a hundred times to stop doodling!" and RIPPED MY STORY IN HALF.

  I still have the book.  It has tape down the middle of every page.  The tape has cracked and yellowed.  Every time I see the book I remember what this goddamned stupid asshole of a teacher did to me in her goddamned math class.

  If you're still out there, Mrs. Milliron, you did not kill my love of reading, writing, drawing, or books, but I hate your fucking guts.

  The Music Room.

  by madhaus on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 10:24:52 PM PDT

•  There are ways to torment kids

  outside of math and English classes.  In "sewing" in 7th grade, we were required to learn the proper method of measuring bust, waist and hips.  That is okay, we were also buying a pattern to make a blouse, so it was practical knowledge.  BUT!!  All the girls' measurements were posted in a list on the bulletin board for all to see.  That room was used for parents' meetings, and I imagined that they spent their time there memorizing our measurements.  Only later did I consider that the skinniest girl in class probably was as miserable as I was...

  by DSPS owl on Tue May 01, 2007 at 04:59:10 AM PDT