With the sorry state of education in this country as exemplified by the teacher strike in Chicago, I began to remember how difficult the seventh grade was academically. Subjects included English, mathematics, reading, spelling, American history, geography, current events, music, crafts, and others. Still, our teacher, Mr. Trout, found time to tell wild tales, spend a week building bird houses, and get us embroiled in all manner of discussions.
Like most tellers of tales, he told his stories in the first person; it all happened to him. For example, he said that his talent for solving problems got him punished. They had a big tom cat that one day could not make a sound, although he would mouth "meow." While everyone else was at a loss, he suggested that maybe someone had put a rubber band around the cat's neck, which turned out to be the problem. Another time they were visiting a family that had a water well with a pump. It quit working but, being a person who could solve problems, he had suggested that maybe someone had dumped rocks down the well. Problem located; punishment followed.
The teacher even took it upon himself to give advice on romance. This included having three girl friends, A, B and C. If problems arose with A, the problem was solved by moving B to A, C to B, and finding a girl to become C.
I could never profit from that advice; I found myself always trying to find A.
Like most tellers of tales, he told his stories in the first person; it all happened to him. For example, he said that his talent for solving problems got him punished. They had a big tom cat that one day could not make a sound, although he would mouth "meow." While everyone else was at a loss, he suggested that maybe someone had put a rubber band around the cat's neck, which turned out to be the problem. Another time they were visiting a family that had a water well with a pump. It quit working but, being a person who could solve problems, he had suggested that maybe someone had dumped rocks down the well. Problem located; punishment followed.
The teacher even took it upon himself to give advice on romance. This included having three girl friends, A, B and C. If problems arose with A, the problem was solved by moving B to A, C to B, and finding a girl to become C.
I could never profit from that advice; I found myself always trying to find A.
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