Maria Semple Quotes
The first stop on this crazy train is Kindergarten Junction, and nobody gets off until it pulls into Harvard Station.
Semple, Maria. Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Little, Brown and Company, 2012.
Uchitelle in writing about one of the nation’s economic recessions thought that it should be an interesting slant to do an article about Harvard alumni who had been laid off to show that education and training were not sufficient to have job security. Lelyveld, one of the greatest newspaper editors in the history of American journalism had also been a Harvard graduate.
The occasion was the opening of the Institute for the Formation of Character, a combination school and day care center. Most of us have never realized that day care is not a new feminist idea of the 1960s but was operational as early as 1816.
Access not being free did not refer to tuition, but to the concept of free competition. At the time West Point and Annapolis did not admit students on the basis of meeting any educational preparation or test criteria. A student had to have a political patron for admission. As a result, most colleges and university faculty would have little to do with the service academies and whereas most other schools were making major changes to teach the rapidly changing sciences that were growing, few would interact with the academies. It was during this period that the service academies fell behind academically and never did catch up. Even today a student must be nominated by a politician—usually a Senator of Congressperson. At least today, the applicant must pass reasonable qualification examinations and have a strong high school record. Back in 1869 it was pure politics and Eliot and other Academics saw the schools as extensions of corrupt patronage politics as many student’s families bribed politicians for their sponsorship.
While this was an excellent thing to do, it was opposed by most Catholics and Protestants alike. The Protestants did not want their children going to school with the lower class Catholics, and the Catholics feared that if the schools were desegregated the Protestants would control the curriculum and teach heresy to their children. The archbishop died 8 years thereafter, and there were too few enlightened intellectuals to keep the idea alive. Ironically, even in Northern Island of the 21st century, religiously integrated schools would be an excellent amelioration for the religious strife, but the majority of both religions still do not want it, and essentially for the same reasons as 175 years earlier.
Maria Keogh Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of This One Is Mine (2008), Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2012), and Today Will Be Different (2016). Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan, and Ellen. She is a 2013 recipient of the Alex Awards.
