The Cellar  

Go Back   The Cellar > Images > Image of the Day

Image of the Day Images that will blow your mind - every day. [Blog] [RSS] [XML]

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 06-07-2015, 08:38 AM   #1
Undertoad
Radical Centrist
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
June 7, 2015: Blackboards from 1917



Oklahoma City, December, 1917. Emerson High School's custodian, R. J. Scott, has taken delivery of brand-new slate blackboards to replace the old ones that are not in good condition. He writes on each room's old board that today is the day the new ones are going to be installed.

It's a pretty big deal.

But R.J. got lazy, faced with several rooms to work on over a week's time; and he decided to just mount the new boards right over the old boards.

And two days ago workers came to remove the chalkboards altogether; they're installing network cables in this building that was built in 1895 and has been the High School since then.

And when they removed the first layer of slate, they found those old blackboards from 1917, with the lessons still on them.









Over the years we teach kids how to do math in radically different ways. But here's your challenge: WTF is this? How does it work?







WaPo story
Undertoad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2015, 09:46 AM   #2
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
What a wonderful find! The lessons/boards seem surprisingly modern in tone
__________________
Quote:
There's only so much punishment a man can take in pursuit of punani. - Sundae
http://sites.google.com/site/danispoetry/
DanaC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2015, 11:35 AM   #3
Griff
still says videotape
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
Nothing is ever new in education. Recycling at its best. I'm still trying to work out that math thing. Some kind of times table system...
__________________
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Griff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2015, 12:13 PM   #4
Clodfobble
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,012
I figured it was a puzzle of some type--cross multiply, or scratch out all the factors of whatever in order to reveal which numbers are left... If nothing else, there are no zeroes anywhere on it, so it can't be a stand alone system for anything.
Clodfobble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-07-2015, 12:22 PM   #5
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
It is a mighty fine circle though.
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 08:56 AM   #6
lumberjim
I can hear my ears
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
I doubt he got lazy. I think he probably left the boards as is on purpose, like a time capsule
__________________
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment, remember
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan
lumberjim is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 09:59 AM   #7
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
Agree, not lazy. Why bother to take the old ones down, they weren't worth anything, couldn't be reused, and provided a flat stable surface for the new boards.
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 11:34 AM   #8
Diaphone Jim
Junior Master Dwellar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Northern California
Posts: 2,122
I'd say they got their money's worth from the slate boards.
But now no more sending the unruly out to beat erasers or using your fingernails to impress the girls.

The circle is a multiplication assignment with random numbers around the edge to match up with the ones in the middle.
I used one similar with my granddaughter to avoid the regimentation of the standard grid and introduce the randomness of actual use.
Something is to be learned in every pic.
The subjects covered were the end of Thanksgiving themes with a turkey and an unlikely African-American Pilgrim girl.
You can see the blobs of adhesive that Mr. Scott used to install the new boards as well as what might be the 1917 version of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Great IOTD
Diaphone Jim is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 12:04 PM   #9
Lamplighter
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods
Posts: 6,402
Nice analysis, DJ

I'm wondering if the hexagons above your multiplication circle are "shields of David" indicating a Jewish presence.

That is, there is a mention of the Dutch and moving to the Netherlands...
And wikipedia says the following:

Quote:
Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.
The area now known as the Netherlands was once part of the Spanish Empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence. A principal motive was a wish to practice Protestant Christianity, then forbidden under Spanish rule, and so religious tolerance was effectively an important constitutional element of the newly independent state. This inevitably attracted the attention of Jews who were religiously oppressed in many parts of the world.

Last edited by Lamplighter; 06-08-2015 at 12:11 PM.
Lamplighter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 12:19 PM   #10
Undertoad
Radical Centrist
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
I like fonts, so... the cursive is identical to the cursive I was taught, how about you?

The non-cursive seen in the second-to-last image... is more difficult than "standard" alphabet, but probably matches what would have been the movable type fonts of the time. Someone copied that directly out of a book, including the serifs and what-not.

The curlie-ques on the numbers on the multiplication teaching tool are cute.
Undertoad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 01:15 PM   #11
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter View Post
Nice analysis, DJ

I'm wondering if the hexagons above your multiplication circle are "shields of David" indicating a Jewish presence.

That is, there is a mention of the Dutch and moving to the Netherlands...
And wikipedia says the following:
The Pilgrims went to Amsterdam to break with the Church of England, but after ten years they worried their children were becoming too Dutch, so they went back to England with the intention of sailing to New York. Absolutely nothing to do with Jews.
Shields of David? No, they're stars, something teachers have used since the invention of blackboards. I had teachers use them all through school. Do you think the Jewish kids had to wear armbands too?
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 02:05 PM   #12
Lamplighter
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods
Posts: 6,402
Quote:
...Shields of David? No, they're stars, something teachers have used since the invention of blackboards.
...
Stars !!! Look closer...
Stars always have and have had 5 points, not 6

Geez, some people still believe Pluto is a planet

Last edited by Lamplighter; 06-08-2015 at 02:11 PM.
Lamplighter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 04:26 PM   #13
lumberjim
I can hear my ears
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
well, they're certainly not hexagons
__________________
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment, remember
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan
lumberjim is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 05:46 PM   #14
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter View Post
Stars !!! Look closer...
Stars always have and have had 5 points, not 6
Wrong... again.
Attached Images
 
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2015, 05:55 PM   #15
Undertoad
Radical Centrist
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
The symbol is more commonly known as the Star of David than as the Shield of David.
Undertoad is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:27 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.