Jan 24
Digg
Stumbleupon
Technorati
Delicious

Chalkdust Torture

Not sure if anyone else is a fan of the band Phish, but reading Casey’s comment about college reminding me of a verse from Chalkdust Torture:

But who can unlearn all the facts that I’ve learned
As I sat in their chairs and my synapses burned
And the torture of chalk dust collects on my tongue
Thoughts follow my vision and dance in the sun
All my vasoconstrictors they come slowly undone
Can’t this wait till I’m old? Can’t I live while I’m young?

No, this really doesn’t have much of anything to do with education reform, technology, or testing, but doesn’t it sum up how every kid feels as they sit in the chair being lectured at as they stare out the window at a beautiful day slipping away?


Author: Steve

4 Comments

Andrew Kaplan
1/24/2006

Nicely stated Steve. Trey and Tom will be happy to know their lyrics are in the blogosphere.

AK

John Pederson
1/25/2006

Confuse what you can of the ending
And revise your despise so impending
‘Cause I soak on the wrath that you didn’t quite mask
I’m getting it clearly through alternate paths
Or mixed in with the signal you’re sending

Ahhh…like putting on an old sweatshirt. That felt really, really good.

[…] hed 0 minutes ago in Play Steve Dembo talks about torture and education. I& […]

Joe
1/25/2006

Steve love these comments…

I love these from The Jackson 5 (ABC):

Reading, writing and arithmetic
Are the branches of the learning tree

Jermaine: But without the roots of love every day, girl

Michael: Your education ain’t complete
T-T-T-Teacher’s gonna show you

J5: Show you, show you

Michael: How to get an A!

I know Michael is singing about love, but the key is that he says “Teacher gonna show you how to get an “A”.”

Isn’t that the premise of the excellent classroom…where students know what is expeted. Maybe it is a stretch??

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment