Some of you are old enough to remember Art Linkletter and his “House Party.” The show actually started out on radio and was eventually moved to the television screen for a half-hour program meant for entertainment. The first fifteen minutes was usually a discussion by adult guest about things that would be of interest to most housewives. It was the last fifteen minutes that I really remember and loved to watch. Art Linkletter would have four school age children sitting on a small stage. He would walk below the stage with his microphone and ask them questions. Kids are kids – no matter when they were born or where they lived. He would ask they simple questions such as “what do you want to be when you grow up?” or “who do you want to marry?” They always had an answer – an answer that would cause the audience to laugh, and I’m sure all those watching at home. I always loved the last fifteen minutes! I use to wonder how those kids got on the show! Little did I know they all lived in California and had to audition to be on the show. WV is a long way from California.
Years later, Bill Cosby started a show based Art Linkletter’s Show, but he called it “Kid’s Say the Darndest Things.” This was a phrase Linkletter would use after the kids would respond to his questions.
After starting my teaching career, I could have had my own show in my classroom every day. Bill and I were talking about some of these funny moments we had in the classroom and thought we would share some of them! There have been times when I wished I had written things down that had taken place in the classroom – you think you can remember them all, but time has a way of causing them to slowly fade away! Today, we are going to share a couple of things from Bill’s teaching days!
Bill has two things that came to mind which happened sometime during the last ten years of his teaching career. He taught WV History to eighth graders, and one of his responsibilities was to prepare the kids for the “Golden Horseshoe” Test in which all eighth graders take in early spring. To qualify for your school, the test was generally given in December. Needless to say, there was a lot of information that needed to be shared in order for these kids to do well on the test. Some obvious bits of information included those who held what office in the county as well as in the state! Most of the kids did well in knowing the mayor, magistrates, sheriff, clerk, etc. Our County Clerk, Bob Pasley has been in that office since 1975. He was actually elected to that position in 1985, but he served as a deputy clerk before being elected. Most of the kids knew who Bob Pasley was. He would come down with his “mountaineer” outfit and rifle and participate in the schools “ramp festival.” When going over who held what office, one student raised his hand to ask a question. “Mr. Hardin, I thought it was Brad Paisley who was the clerk!” Needless to say the kids cracked up – but Bill had no idea who Brad Paisley was! This made them all laugh harder. Of course if you listen to county music, then you know who he is. As the years progressed onward, the state required the kids to know “famous” people from WV. These included Don Knotts, Soupy Sales, Mary Lou Retton, Larry Bird, and eventually they added Brad Paisley. Bill said that Bob Pasley might like the idea that the kids mistook him for Brad Paisley!
Another requirement for the kids was to learn all 55 counties in the state. They had to be able to label them on a blank map! After several weeks of working with the kids and breaking the counties down into regions which made it easier for them to learn, Bill felt good about their progress. Then one morning a group of boys came back to his desk before class took up to tell him something really important! Bill thought they were serious (or so they thought). The spokesman for the little group asked Bill if he had heard that they had added another county that began with the letter “O?” Bill of course replied he had not. This student then stated with a face as straight as an arrow said, “this new county is called Out Wayne!” Bill said those kids had the best time with that because they caught him off guard!
What is really funny about both these stories is that yes, the kids did catch him off guard for a second, and they loved the fact he played along with them! We discovered many years ago you do not have to be straight lace, no smiles, or no humor to have a good teacher-student relationship with the kids. Talk to them straight and treat them fairly and you will be surprised at the progress you can have with them.
Not all our memories are ones that we can share – actually we would just as soon forget some of them. Kids are kids, some are good and some, for whatever reason, try to be bad. Kids do say the “darndest things” and most of the time it is because they are so innocent or just want to have a little clean fun!
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