In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

I use a dishrag now. But it's a set of microfiber cloths, and they're very effective.

[serious crayons]

In this respect, these classical schools sound an awful lot like the public school education I received. We learned by phonics. We diagrammed sentences. My mother actually had flash cards to drill me on math (I still have trouble remembering that 9 + 5 = 14 and not 15.  ) I had Algebra I and II in junior high. There is a mention, too, of an emphasis on civics; in junior high I had a class that was actually called Civics. (I vaguely remember we did things like study the Constitution, the branches of government, how the government works--things like that.)

Weird, because you and I must have attended school at about the same time. (I graduated in 1975.) I think we learned by phonics. I remember flashcards. I had algebra I and II in junior high. We memorized math tables and occasionally poetry -- I memorized "Jabberwocky" for extra credit and can still recite it today at the speed of an auctioneer.

But we did not have a class on physics -- we had American history, Asian history, history of religions and plain old social studies. (I remember the only time I'd get school lunches was when, in the time period after my Asian history class, the day's menu was chow mein.) We must have learned some of the same material that would have been in a civics class,  maybe in the all-purpose social studies classes. And I've never known what diagramming a sentence even requires. (I've seen the diagrams but could not make one myself.) I can identify things like adjectives and adverbs, subject and object, passive and active tense -- stuff like that, if that's what it's about.

I think our district might have been a bit "progressive" -- I remember an elective English class in junior high that focused on the poetry of Bob Dylan.  And in high school I was in a poetry class and was falling behind because I hadn't turned any poetry in. So I wrote a long poem about my drug-fueled experiences at a Foghat concert.  Got an A+. (I didn't mention drugs explicitly but the language in the poem suggested them.)

[Jeff Wrangler]

I use a dishrag now. But it's a set of microfiber cloths, and they're very effective.

When you're done with the dishes, don't you still have a damp cloth that has to be hung up somewhere to dry?

So long ago that I got it with Betty Crocker coupons, I got a small colander. I keep it on the sink next to the faucet, and when I finish washing something, I squeeze the water out of the sponge and place the sponge in the colander.

[serious crayons]

I do have a damp cloth, maybe 9" square. Microfibers make it somewhat rough-textured. I squeeze it out and sometimes drape it over the faucet and sometimes just throw it behind the faucet. Either way it's squeezed out and dries pretty quickly.

[Jeff Wrangler]

But we did not have a class on physics -- we had American history, Asian history, history of religions and plain old social studies. (I remember the only time I'd get school lunches was when, in the time period after my Asian history class, the day's menu was chow mein.) We must have learned some of the same material that would have been in a civics class,  maybe in the all-purpose social studies classes. And I've never known what diagramming a sentence even requires. (I've seen the diagrams but could not make one myself.) I can identify things like adjectives and adverbs, subject and object, passive and active tense -- stuff like that, if that's what it's about.

I graduated in '76.

Did you mean you didn't have a class on civics rather than physics?

In my junior high and high schools, "history" was "social studies."

I had one elective on folklore and one on mythology; both were under the English department.

[serious crayons]

Did you mean you didn't have a class on civics rather than physics?

Oh, right -- good catch.

In my junior high and high schools, "history" was "social studies."

In my junior high, everything was social studies -- history, government, etc. In high school, it was the Social Studies Department, but individual classes broke that down further. For example, in high school I took an elective in Eastern Religions.

I had one elective on folklore and one on mythology; both were under the English department.

I may have mentioned this before, but my two sons went to two different high schools because we were midway between them. But neither of them had classes in creative writing! Writing a paper for history class was about as much creative writing as they got. I was appalled.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I continue to be weeks behind. I am finding lots to read in the March 25 issue. I've already read Rachel Monroe, Margaret Talbot, and Adam Gopnik. I'm currently reading Paige Williams. I want to read Molly Fischer and David D. Kirkpatrick.

Given the current state of our country, I really think everyone should read Adam Gopnik (if for no other reason than, well, it's Adam Gopnik). I expect David D. Kirkpatrick will also be important.

Gopnik and Kirkpatrick are duty articles, but in this case I think they really are a duty.