Alma Mater
Feb. 9th, 2005 03:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desayunoencamaJust had an email from one of the German translators of TWO BOYS IN LOVE, asking about a story of mine set at Yale University. I'm always glad to get these questions, to have a chance toe xplain things, or give suggestions for rephrasing, when the terms don't exist in another language.
The two terms that gave them problems were:
"frosh" (they didn't know that abreviation)
and
"Rocks-for-Jocks problem"(which was confusng on so many different levels; the European school system doesn't have the same distribution requirements as U.S. liberal arts colleges, so they don' thave what in my undergraduate days were called "gut" classes, such as the here-mentioned geology class that was so easy that all the athletes took it to fulfill their science distribution requirement, hence the nickname "Rocks-for-Jocks"; problem was, of course, a homework item, although I shouldn't say of course, because it obviously wasn't obvious...)
(cue nostalgia moment)
What is a bit worrysome is that I can't recall whether or not I did actually take Rocks-for-Jocks. I am pretty sure I took Astro-gut (i.e. basic astronomy) and then two heavy-duty science classes: one on the cellular basis of behavior (which I still find so practical, since it taught me about cockroach escape mechanisms and also that flies jump backward when they take off) and an artificial intelligence course in C+ or something like that, which was a dialect of lisp used only on campus or something equally non-helpful...
I recall that Freshman year, back when I still planned to be an environmental biology major, I took some upper-level genetics course, although maybe I dropped out after a few weeks??
I've no idea if I still have a copy of my transcript. Or, for that matter, my diploma. Or, if I do posess either of these, where they would be...
Perhaps even more despair-inducing (how can I ever write a YA novel if I can't even recall this much of high school?) or perhaps it's a sign of maturity (early senility?) but I can't remember what my SAT scores were... (Although I think I recall my PSATs, because I scored the same on both math and verbal.)
The two terms that gave them problems were:
"frosh" (they didn't know that abreviation)
and
"Rocks-for-Jocks problem"(which was confusng on so many different levels; the European school system doesn't have the same distribution requirements as U.S. liberal arts colleges, so they don' thave what in my undergraduate days were called "gut" classes, such as the here-mentioned geology class that was so easy that all the athletes took it to fulfill their science distribution requirement, hence the nickname "Rocks-for-Jocks"; problem was, of course, a homework item, although I shouldn't say of course, because it obviously wasn't obvious...)
(cue nostalgia moment)
What is a bit worrysome is that I can't recall whether or not I did actually take Rocks-for-Jocks. I am pretty sure I took Astro-gut (i.e. basic astronomy) and then two heavy-duty science classes: one on the cellular basis of behavior (which I still find so practical, since it taught me about cockroach escape mechanisms and also that flies jump backward when they take off) and an artificial intelligence course in C+ or something like that, which was a dialect of lisp used only on campus or something equally non-helpful...
I recall that Freshman year, back when I still planned to be an environmental biology major, I took some upper-level genetics course, although maybe I dropped out after a few weeks??
I've no idea if I still have a copy of my transcript. Or, for that matter, my diploma. Or, if I do posess either of these, where they would be...
Perhaps even more despair-inducing (how can I ever write a YA novel if I can't even recall this much of high school?) or perhaps it's a sign of maturity (early senility?) but I can't remember what my SAT scores were... (Although I think I recall my PSATs, because I scored the same on both math and verbal.)
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-09 04:02 am (UTC)I think it is a sign of maturity, if you did at all well on standardized tests, to learn how to leave them forever behind in adulthood ;-)
and as for forgetting high school... being a first-year middle school teacher, it's amazing how many aspects of 7th grade i totally blocked out (and it was only ten years ago) and only remember bit by bit as various traumatic experiences of my students bring them back to light. it's markedly more distant than high school, because when i work with the high school kids on my campus, they still feel very much like my peers (and i'm rather glad i don't have to be in the position of assigning them grades, reminding them to tuck in shirts, etc.).
my favorite philosopher of education liked to remark that the whole ideal of a disinterested, unemotional teacher is pure fantasy, and that every teacher teaches to recreate some cherished aspect (real or imagined) of his own student days. now that i'm a "real" teacher yet still not a "real" writer i often wonder how the teacherly mode of emotional projection is kin to the writerly methods thereof.
forgive me for this crazy comment--i'm almost always far too intimidated by your easy command of the language to contribute my disjointed ravings!
no subject
Date: 2005-02-09 10:59 pm (UTC)I find this statement--every teacher teaches to recreate some cherished aspect (real or imagined) of his own student days--very interesting, and must mull on it some more. Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-09 11:07 pm (UTC)you're too kind! :-)
I find this statement--every teacher teaches to recreate some cherished aspect (real or imagined) of his own student days--very interesting, and must mull on it some more. Thank you.
It's from the distinguished philosopher of education Maxine Greene by way of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot in the latter's book The Essential Conversation. Greene is brilliant, by the way, especially in her strong area of aesthetics in education, which should be definitely of interest not only to teachers but also to anyone concerned with the roles of art and art-making in culture.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-09 01:59 pm (UTC)