Hola, Sneakers! This week, Nina Matsumoto drops by for her annual birthday visit, and she joins Ian and David for a trip out of town for some elementary school Sparks! visits!
In the car: Ian, David and Nina talk: prologue to the preamble; goin’ to the country; happy birthday to the 3rd Dragon; healthy, wealthy and wizened; clowntime is over; family yokai; back in the USA; radio, radio; land of the rising tech; the outsiders; collapsing in the streets; Hallowent; vacation backlog; the world of wonderful Disneys; enjoy rides; censored ships; dangerous fauna; truckin’; an a-maize-ing town; welcome to performing; drag clowns; love and marriage; busy Bob; directionless; disappointed teachers; big pee; mushroom cult; competitive walking; post-talks commentary; last minute good ideas; new parents; it’s who you know; helpful suggestions; winter is coming; dining cares; the sun gets in your eyes; going to the pedagogues; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; she is the egg-mom; say it loud; short jokes; mushroom homage; speed kills; Topo the world; the heady days of repertory cinemas; the true Godzilla; sovereign suckers; flag baiting; and, finally, the scam busters.
Question of the Week: Is school better now?
Thanks for listening.
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Hello my nomadic Sneakers and to Nina too! Always nice to hear her soothing voice on the show and I didn’t trip her up with any swearing!
I feel I have a bit of insight to the current state of public education since both my kids are teachers…at least in my area. The glaring difference that makes learning better today is the inclusivity and collaboration that was missing from when I was growing up. My son Alec has explained to me that even his art class has a curriculum that reflects what the other classes are teaching so that the school’s education is well-rounded as a whole. The teachers meet every month to align their lesson plans to ensure this. We never had anything like that, we learned during a time when the schools were trying out new techniques and other subjects were left behind because of the focus on some new method, like Chisanbop or SRA Reading kits. Thanks to that, I have a third grade level of Geography, for all I know Vancouver is in Eastern Asia. That doesn’t keep me from my wide-eyed interest in maps, I feel like I’m learning where stuff is for the first time.
Dave, what’s Mary’s take on this kind of stuff since she’s in education? Is Eve a teacher too? I forget.
My public school experience was a shit show, They were more worried about some student wearing a Coors Beer T-Shirt to school than us learning as a whole. We also performed in a siloed environment with little collaboration to speak of…unless we did it ourselves. I noticed a shift going back to when my kids were in school, healthier collaboration with others and a shared learning experience. It’s funny that it went that way because isn’t that how we work in the “real world”? So I definitely think it’s better today when I was in public school and I could pass a Science test just by drawing the teacher’s car for him. True story.
I have another tip on when to visit Disneyland! I was visiting relatives in San Diego back in late January of 1990 and my Aunt had passes for me to go whenever I wanted. I decided to visit Disneyland on Super Bowl Sunday since my relatives had to work that day and it was the perfect time to go. It wasn’t dead by any means but everything was pretty much line free and I was able to park close to the entrance in the “Owl” section (from Winnie the Pooh)!!
Love and good tidings to all as we “sneak” into the holiday season!
All Good Things!!