Adventures in Linguistics

The sixties were an innovative decade of turbulent change in a wide variety of fields. None was more so than education. The “New Math” debacle was the most famous of these educational reforms, but there was also a similar movement in English instruction.

“Linguistics” replaced the traditional English curriculum in my junior high school in 1963. It was embodied by Robert Pierce’s 8th grade English class. Linguistics replaced grammar, probably not the best idea, I missed knowing it later. I do seem to remember that there was an actual textbook concerning the subject, although any of my memories of that era may be suspect—possibly altered by fumes from the alcohol-soaked “ditto” sheet hand-outs that we received. One thing I do remember clearly was Bob Pierce’s enthusiastic championing of a young folk singer who also was named Bob. He brought in Life Magazine’s piece on Dylan (April 10th, 1964) and even played us a few tracks from one of the albums. That a teacher would even be aware of a musician of the younger generation made quite an impression on me. Bob Pierce was “hip”, his formative college years were after the Korean war, not WWII, and he was well aware of The Beats other younger writers. He was one of a group of teachers who had been expressly recruited to try new things at our new school.

After I went to high school I realized just how different my junior high years were, thanks to the efforts of Bob and those other young teachers who made a real difference.

“Linguistics” remains a mystery to me, however.