Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 23, 2022

I can see this one being collected by a lot of High School Teachers.

Wood shop, Home Ec …

“Critical Thinking”… Oh wait they never taught that one, at least not when I was in High School in the ’60s.

Don’t forget basic algebra and geometry.

Investing for retirement, 20 recipes with bran, Understanding people under 20, vision correction, etc.. etc..

There’s a lot of classic books on those shelves. And a lot of Shakespeare.

Just one row? And judging by how few people can remember more than a few phone numbers these days, I’m guessing that that part of the library would have to be considerably bigger than it was 40 years back.

These days, it’s American History and Civics that should be re-read — unless those topics are being snatched from library shelves as too “woke.”

The most useful thing I learned in high school was typing. I have also used geometry a bit too.

Teachers were proved wrong, about not being able to have a calculator with you every place you go

my in laws were both professional librarians, out of college my first job weas as a clerk in a library, you have no idea how true this image is.

a whole lot of math in that section, too

True! (Also, thanks GC, for coming back online)

Off topic, but, very glad to see GOCOMICS is back up and running. I missed all the gang.

First thing after breakfast, ‘’What going on in the funny papers, today?’’

Also, how, when, and why you would buy insurance. Car loans and mortgages. Many other topics.

Can I google Cliff’s Notes?

Chemistry!

It took me ’bout 20 years to figure out that I was missing out on some really good books because some idiot hid them in the “Literature” section of the library / bookstore.

Morning Wiley, great thought!Happy Thanksgiving!

Whoever thought that TYPING would be the one class that EVERYBODY would need/use??? Even my doctors know how to type—sort of. . .

Is it just coincidence that “fiction” and “romance” are in the same area?

I hated school and didn’t even apply for University. I joined the army right after grade 13 at 18, and, you guessed it, went right back to school. The diff, EVERYTHING you learned had an application to some aspect of your career. But the stuff that somehow stayed in my brain after high school seemed to be helpful while I watched Jeopardy! Go figure

For me the classes that have been most useful are Latin and Mythology classes. There so many new words for the explosion of new things.

I’m a female homeowner who tries to do stuff myself rather than hire a handyman. Clearly at a disadvantage from not being allowed to attend shop class back in high school. 50 years later and I’m still peaved.

They should have combined Home Ec and Shop into one class called “Independent Living” or something like that and made both boys & girls take it.

I’m old enough so that if a boy took Home Ec,he was ostracized.

But who can eat a workbench?

I must recommend “Lies My Teacher Told Me”, a book by a college history Professor discussing how badly history is taught in all primary and secondary schools and some colleges. It explained to me why I happily read so much history now although I detested it in school. The names and dates nonsense is only the beginning.

Hahahahahaha. Like anybody under 65 would even know what a library is these days. Hahahahahaha.

One of the biggest challenges that public schools/teachers have is that people are always complaining that school is boring, a waste of time, and kids aren’t learning things; but, when schools/teachers try to do things differently, they are lambasted by complaints that they are being leftest, politically-motivated, spewing propaganda, etc. followed by “we didn’t do things that way when I was in school.” They can’t win. If you think your school was boring and a waste of time, then why complain if things are changed?

Latin…. I use it daily and don’t even know I’m doing it. Same with Algebra and Calculus.

The stuff you blew off section is the largest one in most libraries.

The only thing I “blew off” in high school because I wouldn’t need it in real life is something I’ve STILL never needed at the age of 57: Algebra. Pointless and stupid for a lot of kids, when they could/should be teaching things like balancing a checkbook and other life-essentials.

Latin declensions? Calculus? Marvellous how often I call on all those things that seemed boring at the time but I find a sort of use for nowadays.

Still don’t need to use algebra.

Brilliant! Bravo.

The libraries in San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay have eliminated sub-classes of fiction on their shelves. The lame excuse I heard was that it was too confusing for the few titles that fit more than one category. Book stores and other libraries have dealt with that “confusion” for years. To me, it just seems lazy and counter-productive, if your service is to encourage reading.

No one was keeping you from browing general Fiction. It is simply counterproductive to make people, especially older people, spend more time and effort browsing through hundreds, if not thousands, of unrelated books to find their favorite genre.

https://www.gocomics.com/ziggy/2022/11/23

Unfortunately there are plenty of people who should be using this section who aren’t.

Formerly labeled the Science and History section.