So, we're back again to the topic of age. Today, I taught my first class for the semester. For those who haven't heard me worry yet, I'm teaching US History since 1945 at Montgomery College, the community college right down the street from my office. Because of the snow, today was our first day of class. Part of my list of goals for the class is to get them to start thinking about history as more than names and dates. So, I had them think about the idea that those who write history write about what matters to them, and that maybe their viewpoint about what "matters" might differ from ours.
This whole conversation hinged around a discussion about memory vs. history and their first memories of national significance. I told mine -- John Lennon being shot -- and talked about what this might tell you about me, my family, my upbringing and what I find important. I was juxtaposing this against someone like Brian, who remembers political stuff and, at 9 (and probably much later, but he was 9 when Lennon died) didn't know who John Lennon was.
Then it started. I asked them for their first memory. The earliest was Challenger. Some remembered Clinton being elected. A lot remembered the Gulf War. Big deal, right? No, it was the way they explained it -- I remember when I was 6 and the Persian Gulf War started and my mom was really upset. I remember when the Monica Lewinsky scandal started and my mom had to explain sex to me. My mom, on the other hand, had been avoiding the whole "sex" conversation for quite a few years by then.
Now, I realize that I'm teaching these folks, so being older is not necessarily a bad thing. But last time I taught, I got hit on by my students. I had comments like, "Beauty and brains too -- she's the total package" on my evaluations (and no, i'm not making that up. that's as close to a direct quote as i can get). And now, they're all looking at me like I might as well have said my first memory was Lincoln being shot. I think I liked it better when my 80 year old student at Old dominion told me I was all wrong about the depression.
This whole conversation hinged around a discussion about memory vs. history and their first memories of national significance. I told mine -- John Lennon being shot -- and talked about what this might tell you about me, my family, my upbringing and what I find important. I was juxtaposing this against someone like Brian, who remembers political stuff and, at 9 (and probably much later, but he was 9 when Lennon died) didn't know who John Lennon was.
Then it started. I asked them for their first memory. The earliest was Challenger. Some remembered Clinton being elected. A lot remembered the Gulf War. Big deal, right? No, it was the way they explained it -- I remember when I was 6 and the Persian Gulf War started and my mom was really upset. I remember when the Monica Lewinsky scandal started and my mom had to explain sex to me. My mom, on the other hand, had been avoiding the whole "sex" conversation for quite a few years by then.
Now, I realize that I'm teaching these folks, so being older is not necessarily a bad thing. But last time I taught, I got hit on by my students. I had comments like, "Beauty and brains too -- she's the total package" on my evaluations (and no, i'm not making that up. that's as close to a direct quote as i can get). And now, they're all looking at me like I might as well have said my first memory was Lincoln being shot. I think I liked it better when my 80 year old student at Old dominion told me I was all wrong about the depression.
