WEBVTT - Who Invented the Dunce Cap? (And Other Unusual School Supplies) 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:13.119 Guess what, Mango? What's that? 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:13.440 Will? 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:13.840 All right? 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.400 I know I brought these glue bottles into the studio 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.200 here and that we have put what do you think 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.279 Maybe we're on our fifth round of spreading it on 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:22.799 our hands and peeling it off. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.720 Just because it's so much fun. 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.200 Oh my god, it's so fun. But there's actually a 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.880 reason that I do this. I do this in classrooms 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.000 now because I'm here to prove a point. I actually 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.800 need you to know that the glue that kids use 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:38.760 in schools, it's not really. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.599 Glue at all. What do you mean by that? 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.240 It's a misnomer. And when I say misnomer to the kids, 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:44.800 they looked at me puzzled. But they need to know 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.960 what the word misnomer means as well. But true glue 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:52.760 is derived from natural materials like animal byproducts, plant resins, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.520 and since school glue like Elmer's, is actually made from 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.680 synthetic materials, that technically makes it an adhesive. This is 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:00.800 a very very important point. 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.720 Man. I loved the idea of you just like stomping 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.840 around the second grade classrooms yelling stop putting that adheseve 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:07.479 in your mouth. 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you know how much I 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:11.880 travel these days, and so I try to make it 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.720 a point by stopping by at least two or three 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.480 classrooms to make this point. But sure, I mean nearly 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.400 every example prior to twentieth century was all natural, like 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:25.280 tree sap, beeswax, egg whites. 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:26.280 Animal blood. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.520 Then in fact, the very first commercial glue company in 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.760 the UK made their glue from fish by products from 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:33.280 sturgeons to be specific. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:34.720 Can you imagine what this felt like? 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.199 So I actually remember Salvador Dali made this homemade cologne 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.520 for his wife and it was out of like glue 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.520 and fish parts. But you know, if you'd use that 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.160 UK glue instead, like he could have saved himself. It's 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:48.480 kind of like a glue life hack. 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:50.920 Yeah, it totally is, and would have felt so good 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:52.160 to like peel it off your neck. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.160 And I think I'm gonna go another round here. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.360 But it wasn't just in the UK, like fish glue 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.520 was the norm in the US too, and at least 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.040 until Elmer's Glue all hit the market in the late 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.040 nineteen forties. Now, at that time, the Elmer's brand also 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.679 used natural ingredients in the glue, but the kind of 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.360 use were far less smelly than the sturgeon so Elmer's 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.240 glue all was originally produced by the Borden Company, which 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:17.480 you know is in the dairy business, and one of 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.080 the main ingredients in the early form of the glue 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.320 was casein, which you probably know is this protein found 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.960 in dairy milk and something the Bordon Company obviously had 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:27.520 a lot of. 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.720 That's pretty interesting. So are there any advantages to using 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.440 casin over something like fish parts? 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.680 Well, definitely the improved smell, not surprisingly, but case and 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.760 glue also spread more easily at dried clear much easier 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.560 to wash out. So if you think about, you know, 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.000 kids using it, that was really important. But despite all 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:50.600 of these improvements, for some reason, they're packaging left much 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.320 to be desired. Like the glue was originally sold in 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.400 this glass bottle, which you know was getting broken all 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.520 the time with kids handling, and it came with this 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.799 separate wooden applic that was attached to the side of 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.120 the bottle with just a rubber band, and so it 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.640 was frequently going missing. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:07.320 And so when school. 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.560 Kids across the country started investing in this stuff, that's 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.000 when Borden decided to wise up and they now adopted 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.600 this This what we think of is this very classic 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.280 white plastic bottle and has the orange dispenser tip on 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:20.639 the top. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.919 So you know me and you know I love glue knowledge. 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.079 But what is it that means you want to talk 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:27.120 about glue today? 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.679 Yeah, you really are some kind of an expert on this. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.519 But I wanted to talk about school back in September. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.160 But as everybody knows, we've all been a bit busy 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.280 around here. But since our kids are firmly back in school, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.320 no vacation in sight, I thought it'd be fun to 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.880 explore some of the weird origin stories behind school supplies 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.400 and a few other things you might find in the classroom. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.240 So it's time to bust out your protractor. Lock in 0:03:52.280 --> 0:04:17.720 that retainer because class is back in session. Right Hey, 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.200 the podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.480 Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.559 mangesh Hot ticketter on the other side of that soundproof glass, 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.560 jotting down some notes in his Lisa Frank notebook. 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:29.479 I'm so jealous of this. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.400 Our friend and producer Loel Burlante check it out mega, 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.400 Like it's just this smiling panda writing on top of 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.480 a smiling dolphin, and they're both eating these rainbow colored 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.520 ice cream cones, which also seems to somehow be smiling. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.280 The moll finds the best stuff. It's incredible, and now 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:49.120 I'm smiling. 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:49.680 You know. 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.200 I am glad that you kicked this off talking about glue, 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.839 because it makes it less weird that now I want 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:59.120 to talk about backpacks. So these days, the first backpack 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.640 that most people own is a school backpack, but that 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.200 hasn't always been the case. So prior to the mid 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.960 twentieth century, most American students either carried their books to 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.600 class by hand, or else they wrapped a leather belt 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.760 or cloth strap around the books and then kind of 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.760 slung that over their shoulder. And a few students did 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.800 use small briefcase style satchels to carry their stuff to class, 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.039 but for the most part, students really went backless and 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.360 stuck with these trusty book straps instead. 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:25.320 It's so weird to think about a world without backpacks, like, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.880 especially since you're saying it wasn't all that long ago. 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.479 I mean, no one really thought about wearing a bag 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:32.520 on your back before the twentieth century. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:33.680 I don't really understand that. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.200 So, I mean, rocksacks were I guess a thing before that, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.599 and there were basically the drawstring bags that you slung 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.680 over your shoulder, but these zippered bags with dual straps 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.240 like that didn't come along until nineteen thirty eight. And 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.120 that was the year when a mountaineer named Jerry Cunningham 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.400 invented the first ever zippered backpack out of canvas cloth 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.080 and mostly you did this because he didn't like the 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.599 way traditional rocksacks slid around on his back when he 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.479 was climbing. So Jerry's design was a big hit with 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.279 hikers and campers and people like that, real outdoorsman. But 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.520 actually it would take another thirty years before his invention 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.520 would finally make its way off the trail and into 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:08.320 the classroom. 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:08.760 Again. 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:10.760 I mean, it's hard to believe it would take this 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:12.960 long to realize that there was a market for these 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:16.440 beyond just mountaineers. So was it Jerry's idea to bring 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:17.680 it into the classroom as well? 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.120 No, not exactly. I mean, he did keep playing with 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.120 his backpack. He made the first nylon backpack in nineteen 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.559 sixty seven, and his designs were mostly for outdoor living. 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.800 But it's actually that company, JanSport. Did you have a 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:29.720 Janzport growing up? 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:35.720 Oh totally, yeah, that's multiple danceports despite the like lifetime guarantee. 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.720 I think I probably had three different jans Pots. 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.159 I know we had between JanSport and LB, and I 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.480 had so many backpacks and they all had like life 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.200 lifetime guarantees, and I went through all of them. So 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.640 he designed this teardrop design and JanSport tweaked it a 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.800 little and they used it to win over students. But 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.280 that even makes it sound like a little more intentional 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.680 than it was. So the University of Washington had this 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.520 small sports shop inside their campus bookstore because so many 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.920 kids in their we're into climbing and hiking and whatever, 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.960 and so in nineteen sixty nine the shop began stalking 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.680 jan Sports new lightweight nylon backpack mainly is used as 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.840 like a day pack for these hikes, and when students 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.680 realized the bags were perfect for keeping books and supplies, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:14.880 and it really took off. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.360 It's funny because a pretty similar thing happened with lunch boxes, 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.200 which was another surprisingly recent addition to the school supply. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.400 Cannon, which is I guess people didn't want their sandwiches 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:26.160 wet for lunch. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:27.440 No, I don't. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:29.840 I don't know if you want your sandwiches wet, that's 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.480 so nasty. Kids were mostly just improvising, you know, through 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.000 the mid twentieth century or so, they'd use an old 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.040 cookie tin or a tobacco tin they had lying around somewhere, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.360 And so it wasn't until the late nineteenth century that 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.680 dedicated lunch pails finally arrived on the scene. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.640 I always think that word lunch pails is so funny, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.160 like the idea of carrying around a bucket full of food. 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:52.560 I mean, they kind of were. 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.600 I mean, the original lunch pails for these small metal buckets, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.840 except they did come with lids, and later versions took 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.240 on more of a like a toolbox or bread basket shape, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.640 and they featured these clasps so you could keep the 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.640 lid shut when you carry them around, which is the 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:09.920 kind of lunchbox men took to work in the early 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.679 twentieth century. You can kind of visualize those images we've seen, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.480 and pretty soon their children followed suit at school. 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.080 So when did these bright colors and the cartoon characters, Like, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.200 when did all that stuff get onto the lunchboxes. 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.800 That actually happened pretty early, Like the first one, aim 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.800 specifically at kids, came in nineteen thirty five when the 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.360 Aladdin Company put a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front, 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.920 but with the depression, it didn't quite take off at 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:34.360 that time. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.200 Yeah, I'm guessing funds for that sort of thing were 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.120 a little limited, and you know, foods at a premium, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.400 not you know, not the things you're carrying it around in. 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:43.960 Yeah, no, that's true. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.360 But you know, the Aladdin Company kept their idea for 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.520 this novelty lunch box in their back pocket, and when 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.520 TV started to take off, this was in the early 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.120 nineteen fifties, the company got another turn at this, and 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.920 so they released the metal lunch Box and Thermis that 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.080 featured a cruelly drawn picture of hop Along Cassidy. Well 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.960 that might sound pretty dull today, the hop lunch Box 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.679 was actually a massive hit. They sold six hundred thousand 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.760 of these things in a single year, and that success 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.960 was enough for another screen cowboy to take notice. This was, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.400 of course, Roy Rogers, so he approached the Latin about 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.400 making a lunch box of his own, but the company 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.079 actually turned him away because they didn't think a second. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.200 Cowboy lunchbox would sell. 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.240 It's just too much cowboy. You don't want two Cowboys. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.480 I'm guessing they were wrong about that, though, right. 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.760 They were very wrong about this, because remember westerns were 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.800 a big deal in fifties entertainment, on the same scale 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.839 as like the superhero movies today, and there was absolutely 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.040 room on the shelf for two Cowboy lunchboxes. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:46.640 And Roy Rogers knew this. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.680 So to that end, Rogers partnered with a different company, 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.959 it was American Thermos, and then together they released a 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.000 lunchbox that was so popular and wound up selling two 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.800 and a half million units in nineteen fifty three. 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:00.719 Whoa. 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.559 Not only did Roy Rogers you know, this lunch box 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.760 sell through the roof, it also set a new benchmark 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.880 for lunchbox design. It had this full color illustration that 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.640 covered the entire box, and Thermos and so from their 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:19.599 lunchboxes really took off. Companies started churning out countless designs 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.760 with TV movie, comic book characters. The biggest hit was 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.840 this Disney lunch box painted to resemble a school bus 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.040 that was carrying Mickey and the other Disney characters along 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.480 Like Pinocchio and Dumbo, and so over nine million of 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.560 those school lunchboxes were sold, making it the most popular 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.200 lunch box ever made. 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.600 That's pretty incredible. So where lunchbox is still mostly metal 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.880 at that point or had they already switched over to plastic. 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.120 No, these were all still metal, and when all was 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.200 said and done, roughly one hundred and twenty million metal 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.559 lunch boxes were sold between nineteen fifty and nineteen seventy. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.880 The party kind of ended in nineteen seventy two, though, 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.320 when the state of Florida banned metal lunch box is 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.360 from schools. They were you worried that kids were using 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.440 these heavy boxes as weapons, which led to the plastic 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.960 boxes that we've seen in more recent years and the 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.720 eventual declining sales of lunch boxes in general. 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.079 So we've covered two of the most quintessential school supplies 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.880 I feel, like backpacks and lunchboxes. But here's another thing 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.240 I hadn't thought about in a while, and that's the 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.000 humble plastic recorder, which is still used in music classes today. 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.760 You know, I have always wondered, like, how has decided 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.559 that every kid in America should learn how to play 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.640 the recorder? Like I've always just assumed someone on the 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.880 school board was in cahoots with the manufacturer, and that's 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:42.120 how it somehow took off. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.400 Yeah, so I was actually curious about that too, And 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.760 it turns out that it's largely thanks to the influence 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.960 of this famous German composer whose music theory became the 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.360 basis for a lot of the school music programs we 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.800 see today. His name was Carl Orff, and while his 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.360 name might not ring a bell, you've definitely heard his 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.319 most famous work, and at least one movie trailer. It's 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.920 called Carmina Burana and it sounds like this. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.040 Yeah, that definitely rings a bell. I mean, it's kind 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.520 of the go to hook for every epic movie since 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.160 the nineteen nineties exactly. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.000 But anyway, so Orf's approach to teaching music stress the 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.319 importance of rhythm and creative thinking rather than just memorizing 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.880 musical notations. And he thought the best way for a 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.040 kid to learn music was by teaching him to play 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.880 a simple, accessible instrument that kind of mimic their own 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.679 vocal range. And the soprano recorder perfectly fit that bill, 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.520 because you know, at its core, the recorder is practically 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.880 just a whistle, and unlike more complicated instruments, there are 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:49.880 no strings to strum. You don't have to purse your 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:51.880 lips in any strange way. You just kind of blow 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.520 and out comes this screechy, high pitched tone. At least 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:57.920 that's what I hear from my kids. But if you 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.120 cover this hole or that hole with your fingers, you 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.880 can actually change the notes you play. But the recorder's 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:07.160 classroom dominance wasn't cemented until the nineteen sixties, and that's 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.960 when advances in manufacturing finally allowed the instruments to be 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.920 mass produced in plastic. The plastic recorders were especially attractive 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.160 to educators because they were cheap enough that you could 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.920 buy them in bulk, but still durable enough that you 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:20.880 know they'd last, and they had a pretty good sound. 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:22.440 I do have to say, I mean, you're being pretty 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:27.080 cavalier about potentially alienating all those professional recorder players that 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:28.880 might be in our audience. I think you should be 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:29.920 a little bit more careful. 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.760 I think you're right, actually, And Gabe, who did this research, 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.520 warned me that recorders used to be considered a pretty 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.160 serious instrument. According to experts, the recorders heyday was probably 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.440 during the Baroque era when composers like Bach and Vivaldi 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.520 would actually crank out pieces that showcased recorders in all 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.160 different sizes, and the recorder kind of got offstaged when 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.760 the flute came into Europe and Asia and gradually stole 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.320 the show. But adult musicians do still compose for and 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.880 play the recorder today, according to Susan Burns, who's the 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:03.400 administrative director of the American Recorder Society, quote, the recorder 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.920 is a professional instrument in its own right. Everyone says, oh, 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.479 it's so easy to play, but it takes a lifetime 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.079 to master, you. 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:13.640 Know, Tony, I don't know if you've ever seen this 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.600 clip that went viral of you hear the song turned 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.240 down for what being played, and then right after they 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.600 say that, it pans to this group of elementary school 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.400 students and they start playing the like chorus or whatever 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:27.359 on their recorders. 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:29.280 It was pretty great. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.160 I know, we've got so much more. So let's take 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:31.920 a quick break. 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:47.760 They're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.400 the strange stories behind school supplies. All right, Mango, So 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.880 as you know, there's a question every parent has to 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.600 ask sooner or later, and that is, how can I 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.320 keep my kid from freaking out about their first day 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.120 of school? Like, it's a scary amount of change for 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.240 a child to deal with, and there's no universal answer 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.000 for how to combat that fear. But the Germans and 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.040 Austrians have what's probably the closest thing I think, and 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.200 what is that Well, basically you distract them with a 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.320 giant cone full of presents. I mean, it seems so 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.560 obvious in hindsight, but this is a real thing in 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.800 Germany and Austria. So each year since the early eighteen hundreds, 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.440 the latest crop of first graders are gifted with what's 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.440 called a shultata, which is to help celebrate their very 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.600 first day of school. The name translates as school bag, 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.480 but it's more like this giant cone shaped Christmas stocking. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.040 So parents will fashion it out of paper and it's 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.160 sometimes as big as two or three feet tall, and 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.720 then they fill it with like candy and toys and 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:50.840 all these other treats to help make the first day 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.200 of school more special. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.960 Actually, just look this up. It's crazy. These cones are 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.720 like as big as the kids. It's insane. 0:15:58.800 --> 0:15:59.840 Yeah, there is. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.800 So all the first year students just lugged these giant 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:04.000 cones around like all day. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:05.480 Well not anymore, no. 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.400 I mean nowadays most kids get their shulta does at 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.840 home and leave it there. But back in the early 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.360 days of the tradition, kids actually had to rush to 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.160 the school yard and pick their own from this tree 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.160 that was said to grow them only when it was 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.080 time for the school year to start. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.160 That's amazing. I can imagine kids just like waiting at 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.480 the gates and then running in and getting these plucking 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.120 these cones from truths. It is kind of funny that 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:31.920 you brought up cones, because I actually have the goods 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.120 on a different sort of cone that was supposed to 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.920 I guess bring up the opposite reaction, and that's the 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.000 dance cap. So during the Victorian era, this goofy cone 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.040 shaped hat became a symbolic form of discipline in European 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.120 and American schools alike, and if a student acted up 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.400 in class or didn't know the answer to a question, 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.520 they'd have to go sit in the corner. And I'm 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:53.520 sure you've seen cartoons of like Dennis the Menace or 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.040 whatever where he's wearing a dance cap sitting in the corner. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.440 But the hope was all this embarrassment would curtail future 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:00.800 misbehaved Yeah. 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:02.960 I mean, there's nothing like a little public shaming to 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:03.880 keep the kids in line. 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:04.080 You know. 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:06.960 Well, it must have been pretty traumatizing for the kids. 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.119 But the practice actually continued in the US and Europe 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.960 well into the twentieth century, and Dunce caps were pretty 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.320 common all the way up until the nineteen fifties. 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:17.160 Oh, I do think of it as like a much 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.440 older image. I didn't realize they lasted that long. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:20.040 Yeah. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.960 So here's the wildest part and something I hadn't heard 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.600 before this week. But we think about the Dunce cap 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.480 as something that signifies like a lack of intelligence, and 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.120 it actually began as a symbol of a really accomplished scholar. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.359 Born sometime in the thirteenth century. His name was John 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.520 Dunn Scotis, and he was a Franciscan priest and a linguist. 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.479 He studied theology and philosophy at Oxford and taught classes 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.000 at the University of Paris. And he even had a 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.600 group of students and others that kind of followed his 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.800 teachings and lived near him, and they called themselves Duntsmen. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.919 So Atlas Obscura has an article about it, and it says, quote, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.240 Scotis was a renaissance man centuries before the Renaissance even 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.240 took place. But all of that said, it should be 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.040 known that Scotus liked to wear a big, pointy wizard 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.000 hat whenever he went out in public. So while he 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.920 was this incredibly smart guy, his sense of fashion might 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.679 be a little lacking or a little too forward, you know, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.840 depending on how you how you look at it. But 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:16.640 the cool thing is, and no one is really sure 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.000 whether Scotis was inspired by depictions of wizards that he'd seen, 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.520 or whether it was his own cap that inspired the 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.280 wizard's look that we think of now. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.920 I think in either case, it sounds like the takeaway 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.639 here is that wise people wear very pointy hats. I 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.440 think that's the only thing I could take from it always. 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.840 But you know, Scotis even went a step further. He 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.640 actually believed that the conical shape of his hat kind 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:43.160 of functioned as this metaphysical reverse funnel, with knowledge collecting 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.240 at the pointy end and then flowing down around his brain. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.320 And so, as silly as it sounds, the idea caught 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.679 on with academics of the day, and the cone shaped 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:55.080 cap became the symbol of both duntsman and of high 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:56.240 intelligence in general. 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.639 It's sort of bizarre, So like what happened? Like what 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.000 changed the hats from a mark of pride to this 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:02.600 symbol of shame. 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.119 I guess, funnily enough, it's actually the Renaissance that changed it. 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.919 So by the mid sixteenth century, popular theology and philosophy 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.760 had moved away from Scotus and his teachings, and that 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.440