Book Description

ABOUT THE BOOK You might wonder under what contact I had with the Counter Cultural Revolution. One of them was in my role as a school teacher. Previous to the Counter Cultural Revolution I taught in an ultra conservative school. To show just how conservative this school was imagine a modern school with separate women ad men faculty rooms. In the men's faculty room was a shoe shine kit to be used by the male teachers. After being observed by the principal I awaited with dread his comments on my teaching. What he said was, "Your window shades are not level." As for discipline, a major infraction of the rules was joyriding in the school elevator and the use of words "damn" or "hell" was cause to get the student some very nasty looks. Well, I guess you get the idea. Now picture the same school after the arrival of the Counter Cultural Revolution. Everything was done to please the kids. In fact, they took away the teachers' dining room and used it for a playroom for them with pinball machines, boom boxes, pool tables, etc. To provide for a teachers' lunchroom, they built a crude cinder block enclosure which the teachers labeled the "Hanoi Hilton." The drab green halls became psychedelic with each hall glaring out at the passerby with such colors as purple, yellow, red, etc. Speaking of halls, it was not unknown to see students skateboarding in them while classes were in session. Passing a class in session, it was not unusual to see the desks in disarray with students lounging on the window sill and the teacher trying listlessly to teach. And if you looked out the right window, you could see drug dealers in the parking lot. Add to this the mini skirts, weird haircuts, and enough jewelry to make an elephant buckle. Need I mention the language? Oh, yes, I remember the Counter Cultural Revolution. ABOUT THE AUTHOR After getting a bird's-eye view of the world during World War II, a result of volunteering in the Navy at the age of 17, the author attended Fordham University School of Education and graduated cum laude. He taught in a private high school while acquiring his Master's degree in Education from Queen's College, New York, and eventually moved to the public school system. He taught Social Studies for 29 years and an American History honors program for 20 years. He is married and has four grown sons. Now retired, he is still active, observing and analyzing society from a new but thoughtful and refreshing perspective.