Agricola/Agricolae

[susandennis]

I finished reading Marshall Chapman's book last night. Towards the end there were several pages on our high school (which she describes as a "Moravian convent") experiences. She talks about the rules. I'd totally forgotten the one about always having to wear a minimum of a full slip in the dorm hallways. Naked chicks need not apply.

And she talked about the curriculum which had not even been tweaked since the 1800's. We were required to pass two years of Latin. Being the brilliant student that I was, I managed to polish off this requirement in three years flat. This will be the very first time I have ever, in my adult life, used that knowledge. (See entry title - it means farmer.)

We also - every single girl in the school - had to memorize and recite before an audience - the first 52 lines of the prologue to the Canterbury Tales - in middle English. I can still - sadly - do this today. There has not been much call for it but if when I want to disperse a crowd, I can do it in a heartbeat.

She did also mention that the school called itself 'college preparatory' and it was. Like me, by the time she got to college, it was a cakewalk. I worked hard to get up to mediocre at this convent. My college prep tests put me into advanced placement classes in everything. I fixed that immediately. I had bridge to play and peace marches to march and beer to drink and drugs to find... who had time for advanced placement shit??

Memories... Ok, I'm done. Tonight I tap into my currently very healthy ToBeReadNext pile. Sweet.