Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for January 25, 2024

Manipulating the system is an important survival skill – Mrs. Wormwood has done her job well.

You memorized this question, but what about the others?

Like the song says, “Plymouth Rock landed on them”…..

Was he close? I don’t think so. I think Calvin guessed there.

The reason so many hate history class is that incompetent teachers ‘teach’ it as only a list of names, dates, and places instead of teaching not only what happen but why in happen and what it caused to happen.

I memorized that as a kid and still remember it today. Meanwhile I can’t remember the name of someone I was introduced to a few minutes ago.

They say no knowledge is wasted. You never know, Calvin, maybe someday you’ll be on a game show and this question will come up and you’ll win a lot of money!

Years ago, I was in a restaurant where, at another table, a man was spouting American history to his elderly father and his teenage son. There were inaccuracies, but I kept quiet—until the man said that the Pilgrims landed in 1745. Well, that was too much, and I blurted out “1620!”

As they were leaving, the grandfather thanked me.

So you see, Calvin—there IS a benefit to learning trivia, LOL.

That was actually a big mistake on Calvin’s part. He showed that he can learn.

If memorizing and regurgitation is all school is about. How come I still remember the times tables and find it useful almost everyday?

I managed to get an education and be successful despite my formal ‘education’. But I got degrees in the formal education by manipulating the system because you need them to get employment in my field.

If you’re ever on Jeopardy, this tidbit could come in handy!

Except that the rock in question is not mentioned anywhere in the records left by the puritan colonists. The earliest source identifying the rock as the landing site was from a man who was not old enough to have witnessed the event in question.

I’ve always loved history. All history amounts to, is the study of human nature. If you pay attention, your can predict the future, because human nature is very predictable.

I’ve been teaching since 1982 and can attest to Calvin’s statement about the lousy pay. It is something I love greatly, though.

He’s not wrong.

I learned something today, like Calvin I will forget it soon.

History is stories, not memorizing dates.

“I intend to forget it forever because I never plan on being on ‘Jeopardy’…”

1066—-has been entrenched in my memory banks since grade school (65 years ago) as the date of the battle of Hastings.

I have no memory of WHAT the battle of Hastings was about or who were the combatants

So, if Calvin somehow made it onto Jeopardy and the clue was “It’s the year when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock”…

My art history classes in college finally took me beyond the dates etc and showed what was going on in people’s lives during past times. And of course lit classes as well.

I’d love to know Miss Wormwood’s thoughts on this brilliant observation! :D

Umm, Calvin… You may want to keep that to yourself…

I felt the same way about Algebra. I have yet to use the Quadratic Equation in real life

Unfortunately satisfaction doesn’t pay the mortgage or put food on the table.

“History does not repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes.”

It’s funny….I swear Calvin reads my mind sometimes.

At what airport did they land?

towards the end of High school my friends had pretty good relations with many teachers. we got away with a lot of BS because we did the work and knew the answers.

The high point was when a history teacher came up to us at lunch and said “You’re randy’s friends right?” yes. “Tell him to drop my class, he needs a 105 on the final just to pass.”

“I see that my work here is done. Now go into the world and for heaven’s sake make more than I do….”

Since very few events in history are one-offs, dates are important to maintain a timeline and get a better understanding of how and why “stuff” happens. And “stuff” means everything worth noting.

To breathe interest in the past and real awareness of how things came to be in the present, and all along the way, check out the British TV show, Connections with James Burke.

To quote Mister (not Doctor) Spock: Fascinating.

Mrs. Clay, my Junior High history teacher presented history as a living and active story, not a dry, rote memorization of facts. She instilled in me an enjoyment of history which has lasted until today.

I did well in history in school, but not by memorizing dates. I always felt that we teach history inside put and upside down.

Let’s first study how and why things happened, and then fill in when they happened after we actually understand what happened.

Which of these is more interesting:

My great grandfather came to this country with only the clothes on his back. He believed in working hard. He got a job in the garment district, and worked his way up to owning a textile mill. That mill led to an entire line of clothing still popular to this day. He saw America as a land of opportunity, and he build on that. He raised a large family, who have made many contributions to this land.

or

My great grandfather came to this country on March 11th, 1902.

Unfortunately, too many people took the cynical manipulation lessons to heart.

Hilarious!

When I was six years old the only thing I could spell correctly was my name

This unlocked a childhood memory of trying to replicate Calvin’s handwriting style. It was surprisingly a lot of work.

Education isn’t cheap, but ignorance will cost you a whole lot more.

I don’t remember that factoid, but then again, I’m from Canada. At the time I was Calvin’s age, we were finding out about a settler who was considered a hero for getting drunk and falling off his roof.

They would have you believe that when America began except that St. Augustine was already over 50 years old by then.

Joke is on Calvin. He will tell this story of how he outsmarted the teacher until he is so old he will have forgotten to forget that the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

I’ve learned much more history since I left school. 1066, Normans win a battle and William becomes king. Well lot more to it than that. Such as the Normans, were the North Men or Viking ancestors.

And smart Calvin … can you explain why your desk shrunk from the 2nd picture to the 4th ;-) ?

I taught History and still have students (who are grandparents now) keep in touch to let me know how interesting my classes were….

that is so true

Spock: I never met John Gill, but I studied Earth history from the text he prepared.

Kirk: I knew him very well. He was my instructor at the Academy.

Spock: What impressed me most was his treatment of Earth history as causes and motivations rather than dates and events.

I did something similar on a test and even though I got the answer right, the teacher marked it as wrong because she did not like my remark about how the Jack Parr Show was very, very old in 1981…I wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Wormwood marked Calvin’s answer wrong, too.

Congratulations! Lesson learned. Manipulating various system is what education is all about.

Maybe you will remember, later in life, that it happened in the early 17th century.

Ahh yes, I can see Cal’s future, 2nd shift assistant manager at Flip-O-Burger…or a lawyer.

I called an ex girlfriend Plymouth Rock. Body like a Plymouth and a head like a rock.

Had a well-traveled Ancient History professor in undergrad who actually visited all those ancient places in Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc… He used a lot of slides and background on those places and civilizations. One of the few college professors I had who brought the subject to “life”.

Agreed

Taking the time to write that thoughtful note took away from the time you needed to answer all the rest to pass the test.. No wonder you were stuck in her class for so long

Tell the story of history. Teach kids to read so that if they are interested they can read about the minutiae.

I know this strip is old but do they even teach history anymore?

“When I look back on all the c**p I learned in high school . . . "

I hated history when I was in school mainly because I could not relate to it.

Now I believe that we teach history the wrong way: we look BACK at it. We read the end of the book and we know all the spoilers and no matter how many times Hitler attacks the Soviet Union, he still loses.

Instead we need to build a mental time machine and transport ourselves to the place and time of the event. Then look FORWARD through history at the events that are unfolding around us. It not only gives us a better sense of what happened, but it also gives us an uncanny uneasiness about current events particularly if you find your historic placement in 1930’s Europe.

I also use this same technique for Bible Study. I often place myself as a first century Jew in the Galilee and this wandering band of preachers come into town …

Or I’m the Roman governor who’s disenchanted with this backwater posting in the Empire whose residents are revolting in both senses of the word. Then this collaborator known as the high priest, for whom I have nothing but contempt, but he’s necessary to keep the peasantry under control, comes up to me and wants ME to solve a problem with one of HIS troublemakers.

While on a trip to New England, we went to see Plymouth Rock. It was surprisingly small. I gather that over the years, a lot of it disappeared.

Calvin seems to have the knack to press on the underside of all professionals. And he rubs it in as well.

Calvin has learned the wrong lesson. Again.

Still just a tad advanced for first grade. Though I didn’t learn about that historic event until second grade, and it’s stuck with me since.