Yeah, they knew how to focus on the basics all right! I too can diagram a sentence -- and play the flutophone!
Sister Benedicta was about a hundred and ten years old, really old school, would grab you by the ear and haul you up to the front of the class. This particular day we were practicing cursive m's and n's and mine weren't quite up to snuff, so she wrote "swimming" on the blackboard and had me come up and trace over it. Clever child that I was, I traced over the word carefully and when I got to the tail end of the "g" I just kept the chalk on the board and retraced it backwards to the beginning. I think I made the circuit three or four times before she turned around and caught me. She was Not Amused. But it's thanks to her that I have legible cursive, which has been a real gift throughout my life. I hear they're giving up teaching it in schools these days -- she'd be horrified!
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Sister Benedicta was about a hundred and ten years old, really old school, would grab you by the ear and haul you up to the front of the class. This particular day we were practicing cursive m's and n's and mine weren't quite up to snuff, so she wrote "swimming" on the blackboard and had me come up and trace over it. Clever child that I was, I traced over the word carefully and when I got to the tail end of the "g" I just kept the chalk on the board and retraced it backwards to the beginning. I think I made the circuit three or four times before she turned around and caught me. She was Not Amused. But it's thanks to her that I have legible cursive, which has been a real gift throughout my life. I hear they're giving up teaching it in schools these days -- she'd be horrified!