WEBVTT - Who Invented the Dunce Cap? (And other unusual School Supplies) 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.200 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:13.920 I guess what, mango? What's that? Will? All right? I 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.680 know I brought these glue bottles into the studio here 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:18.520 and that we have put what do you think Maybe 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.440 we're on our fifth round of spreading it on our 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.880 hands and peeling it off just because it's it's too 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:26.759 much fun. Oh my god, it's so fun. But there's 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.400 actually a reason that I do this. I do this 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.480 in in classrooms now because I'm here to prove a point. 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.280 I actually need you to know that the glue that 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.239 kids use in schools, it's it's not really glue at all. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.680 What do you mean by that? It's a misnomer. And 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:43.720 when I say misnomer to the kids, they looked at 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:45.240 me puzzled. But they need to know what the word 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.000 misnomer means as well. But true glue is derived from 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.960 natural materials like animal byproducts, plant resins, and since school 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.240 glue like Elmer's, is actually made from synthetic materials, that 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.760 technically makes it an adhesive. This is this is a 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.120 very important point. I love the idea of you just 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.280 like stomping around second grade classrooms yelling stop putting that 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.200 adhesive in your mouth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean you 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.200 you know how much I traveled these days, and so 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.160 I try to make it a point by stopping by 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.479 at least two or three classrooms to make this point. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.280 I mean, nearly every example prior to twentieth century was 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.840 all natural, like tree sap, beeswax, egg whites, animal blood. 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:28.600 In fact, the very first commercial glue company in the 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.400 UK made their glue from fish by products from sturgeons 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.679 to be specific. Can you imagine what they smell like? 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.080 So I actually remember Salvador Dolly made this homemade cologne 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.400 for his wife and it was out of like glue 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.480 and fish parts. But you know, if he'd use that 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.160 UK glue instead, like he could have saved himself. It's 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.880 kind of like a glue life hack. Yeah, totally is. 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:51.560 And what it felt so good to like peel it 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:53.600 off your neck and I think I'm gonna go another 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.800 round here. But it wasn't just in the UK, like 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:58.800 fish glue was the norm in the US two and 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.640 at least until Elmer's Glue all hit the market in 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.440 the late nineteen forties. Now, at that time, the Elmer's 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.280 brand also used natural ingredients in the glue, but the 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.200 kind of used were far less smelly than the surgeon. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.920 So Elmer's Glue all was originally produced by the Boarding Company, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.359 which you know is in the dairy business, and one 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.600 of the main ingredients in the early form of the 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.760 glue was case in, which you probably knows this protein 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.519 found in dairy milk and something the Boarding company obviously 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.400 had a lot of. That's pretty interesting. So are there 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.640 any advantages to use in case in over something like 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:36.520 fish parts. Definitely, the improved smell, not surprisingly, but case 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.359 and glue also spread more easily at dried clear much 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.560 easier to wash out. So if you think about, you know, 0:02:42.639 --> 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 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.280 to be desired. Like the glue was originally sold in 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.200 this glass bottle, which you know, it was getting broken 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.360 all the time with kids handling, and it came with 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.360 this separate wooden apple hater that was attached to the 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.880 side of the bottle was just a rubber band, and 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.040 so it was frequently going missing. And so when school 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.560 kids across the country started investing in the stuff, that's 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.280 when Borden decided to wise up and they now you know, 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.720 adopted this. This is what we think of is this 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.880 very classic white plastic bottle and has the orange dispenser 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.200 tip on the top. So you know me and you 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.080 know I love glue knowledge. But what is it that 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.880 made you want to talk about glue today? Yeah, you 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:29.960 really are some kind of an expert on this. But 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.680 I wanted to talk about school back in September. But 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.840 as everybody knows, we've all been a bit busy around here. 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.680 But since our kids are firmly back in school, no 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.760 vacation in sight, I thought it'd be fun to explore 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.120 some of the weird origin stories behind school supplies and 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.720 a few other things you might find in the classroom. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.200 So it's time to bust out your protractor. Lock in 0:03:52.240 --> 0:04:17.560 that retainer because class is back in session, right he 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.160 their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.520 Pearson and is always I'm joined by my good friend 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.560 Manes Ticketer on the other side of that soundproof glass, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.720 jotting down some notes in his Lisa Frank notebook. I'm 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:33.039 so jealous of this. Our friend and producer Loll Berlante 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:35.799 check it out mega like it's it's just the smiling 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.680 panda riding on top of a smiling dolphin, and they're 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.640 both eating these rainbow colored ice cream cones, which also 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.120 seems to somehow be smiling. Well finds the best stuff. 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.200 It's incredible, And now I'm smiling. But you know, I 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.200 am glad that you kicked this off talking about glue, 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.760 because it makes it less weird that now I want 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.040 to talk about backpacks. So these days, the first backpack 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.640 that most people are is a school backpack, but that 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.200 hasn't always been the case. So prior to the mid 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.920 twentieth century, most American students either carried their books to 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.640 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 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.720 slung that over their shoulder. And a few students did 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.800 use small briefcase style satchels to carry their stuff to class, 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:19.840 but for the most part, students really went backless and 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.000 stuck with these trusty book straps instead. It's so weird 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.000 to think about a world without backpacks, like, especially since 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.160 you're saying it wasn't all that long ago. I mean, 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.800 no one really thought about wearing a bag on your 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.240 bag before the twentieth century, I don't really understand that. So, 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.200 I mean, ruck sacks were I guess a thing before that, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.320 and they were basically the draw string bags that you 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.200 sling over your shoulder. But these zipper bags with dual 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.640 straps like that didn't come along until And that was 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.640 the year when a mountaineer named Jerry Cunningham invented the 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.599 first ever zipper backpack out of canvas cloth and mostly 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.719 you did this because he didn't like the way traditional 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.160 ruck sacks slid around on his back when he was climbing. 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.120 So Jerry's design was a big hit with hikers and 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.559 campers and and people like that, real outdoorsman. But actually 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:05.760 it would take another thirty years before his invention would 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.760 finally make its way off the trail and into the classroom. Again, 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:10.840 I mean, it's hard to believe it would take this 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:12.920 long to realize that there was a market for these 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.400 beyond just mountaineers. So was it Jerry's idea to bring 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.000 it into the classroom as well? No, not exactly. I mean, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.560 he did keep playing with his backpack. He made the 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:25.559 first nylon backpack in seven and his designs were mostly 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.479 for outdoor living, but it's actually that company Jan Sport. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.320 Did you have a Janspoort growing up? Oh, totally, that's 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:36.400 multiple despite the like lifetime guarantee. I think I probably 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.480 had three different jans you know, we had between JanSport 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:41.640 and LB, and I had so many backpacks and they 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:43.920 all had like life lifetime guarantees, and I went to 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.239 all of them. So he designed this tear drop design 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.520 and Jan Sport tweaked it a little and they used 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.000 it to win over students. But that even makes it 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.960 sound like a little more intentional than it was. So 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.600 the University of Washington had this small sports shop inside 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.240 their campus bookstore because so many kids in the area 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.640 were into climbing and hiking or whatever, and so in 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.840 nineteen sixty nine, the shop began stalking jam sports new 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.040 lightweight nylon backpack, mainly as used as like a day 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.600 pack for these hikes, and when students realized the bags 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.400 were perfect for keeping books and supplies, and it really 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.400 took off. It's funny because a pretty similar thing happened 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.000 with lunch boxes, which was another surprisingly recent addition to 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.240 the school's supply cannon, which is I guess people didn't 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.760 want their sandwiches wet for lunch, No, I don't. I 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:29.800 don't know if you want your sandwiches weather. That is, 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.080 kids were mostly just improvising, you know, through the mid 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.560 twentieth century or so, they'd use an old cookie tin 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.400 or tobacco tin they had long around somewhere, and so 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.440 it wasn't until the late nineteenth century that dedicated lunch 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.760 pails finally arrived on the scene. I always think that 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.280 word lunch pails is so funny, like the idea of 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.800 carrying around a bucket full of food. I mean, they 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.040 kind of were. I mean, the original lunch pails for 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.240 these small metal buckets, except they did come with lids, 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.920 and later versions took on more of a a toolbox 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.880 or bread basket shape, and they feature these clasps so 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.440 you could keep the lid shut when you carry them around, 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.080 which is the kind of lunch box men took to 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.120 work in the early twentieth century. You can kind of 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:15.280 visualize those images we've seen, and pretty soon their children 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.800 followed suit. At cool, So when did these bright colors 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.000 and the cartoon characters, Like when did all that stuff 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.800 get onto the lunch boxes? That actually happened pretty early, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.240 like The first one aim specifically at kids came in 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.200 nineteen thirty five when the Aladdin Company put a picture 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.520 of Mickey Mouse on the front, but with the depression, 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.200 it didn't quite take off at that time. Yeah, I'm 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.600 guessing funds for that sort of thing where a little 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.840 limited and you know, food set of premium, not you know, 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.360 not the things you're carrying it around in. Yeah, no, 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.679 that's true. But you know, the Aladdin Company kept their 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.679 idea for this novelty lunch box in their back pocket, 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.199 and when TV started to take off, this was in 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.880 the early nineteen fifties, the company got another turn at this, 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.920 and so they released the metal Lunchbox and thermis that 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.040 featured a cruelly drawn picture of hop Along Cassidy. Well 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.600 that might sound pretty dull today, the hop Along lunch 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.240 Box was actually a massive hit. They sold six hundred 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.240 thousand of these things in a single year, and that 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.600 success was enough for another screen cowboy to take notice. 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.719 This was, of course, Roy Rogers, so he approached the 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.880 Latin about making a lunch box of his own, but 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.920 the company actually turned him away because they didn't think 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.160 a second cowboy lunchbox would sell. It's just there's too 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.600 it's too much cowboy. You don't want two cowboys. I'm 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.000 guessing they were wrong about that, though, right, they were 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.240 very wrong about this because remember westerns were a big 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.240 deal in fifties entertainment, on the same scale as like 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.160 the superhero movies today, and there was absolutely room on 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.680 the shelf for two cowboy lunchboxes. And Roy Rogers knew this. 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.640 So to that end, Rogers partnered with a different company, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.959 it was American Thermis, and then together they released the 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.680 lunch box that was so popular and wound up selling 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.840 two and a half million units in nineteen fifty three. 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.560 Not only did Roy Rogers you know, this lunch box 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.679 sell through the roof, it also set a new benchmark 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.840 for lunchbox design. It had this full color illustration that 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:14.640 covered the entire box, and Thermis and so from their 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.960 lunch boxes really took off. Companies started churning out countless 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.439 designs with TV movie, comic book characters. The biggest hit 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.480 was this Disney lunch box painted to resemble a school 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.679 bus that was carrying Mickey and the other Disney characters 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.360 along like Pinocchio and Dumbo, and so over nine million 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.720 of those school lunch boxes were sold, making it the 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:40.000 most popular lunchbox ever made. That's pretty incredible. So we're 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.319 lunch boxes still mostly metal at that point, where had 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.400 they already switched over to plastic. Now, these were all 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.200 still metal, And when all was said and done, roughly 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.480 a hundred and twenty million metal lunch boxes were sold 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:56.120 between nineteen fifty in nineteen seventy. The party kind of 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.480 ended in nineteen seventy two, though, when the State of 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.040 Florida banded metal lunchbox is from schools. They were, you know, 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.559 worried that kids were using these heavy boxes as weapons, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.520 which led to the plastic boxes that we've seen in 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.440 more recent years than the eventual declining sales of of 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.360 lunch boxes in general. So we've covered two of the 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.840 most quintessential school supplies I feel, like backpacks and lunch boxes. 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.240 But here's another thing I hadn't thought about in a while, 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.800 and that's the humble plastic recorder, which is still used 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:30.600 in music classes today. You know, I have always wondered, like, 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.840 how has decided that every kid in America should learn 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.960 how to play the recorder? Like I've always just assumed 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.480 someone on the school board was in cahoots with the manufacturer, 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:42.720 and that's how it somehow took off. Yeah, so I 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.920 was actually curious about that too, And it turns out 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:48.520 that it's largely thanks to the influence of this famous 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.720 German composer whose music theory became the basis for a 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.360 lot of the school music programs we see today. His 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.560 name was Carl Orff, and while his name might not 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.280 ring a bell, you've definitely heard his most famous work, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.640 and at least one movie trailer. It's called Carmina Burana 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:17.440 and it sounds like this. Yeah, that definitely rings a bell. 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:19.080 I mean, it's kind of the go to hook for 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:23.440 every epic movie since the exactly. But anyway, so Orp's 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.120 approach to teaching music stress the importance of rhythm and 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.640 creative thinking rather than just memorizing musical notations. And he 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:31.800 thought the best way for a kid to learn music 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.160 was by teaching him to play a simple, accessible instrument 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.679 that kind of mimic their own vocal range. And the 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.920 soprano recorder perfectly fit that bill, because you know, at 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.840 its core, the recorder is practically just a whistle, and 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.800 unlike more complicated instruments, there are no strings to strong 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:50.920 You don't have to purse your lips in any strange way. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.120 You just kind of blow and outcomes this screechy, high 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.040 pitched tone. At least that's what I hear from my kids. 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.320 But if you cover this whole or that hole with 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.040 your fingers, you can actually change the notes you play. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.640 But the recorders classroom dominance wasn't cemented until the nineteen sixties, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.720 and that's when advances in manufacturing finally allowed the instruments 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.959 to be mass produced in plastic. The plastic recorders were 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.880 especially attractive to educators because they were cheap enough that 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.520 you could buy them in bulk, but still durable enough 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.400 that you know they'd last, and they had a pretty 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:21.959 good sound. I do have to say, I mean, you're 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.560 being pretty cavalier about potentially alienating all those professional recorder 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.559 players that might be in our audience. I think it 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.240 should be a little bit more careful. I think you're right, actually, 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.960 And Gabe, who did this research, warned me that recorders 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.680 used to be considered a pretty serious instrument. According to experts, 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.680 the recorders heyday was probably during the Baroque era, when 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.040 composers like Bach and Vivaldi would actually crank out pieces 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.640 that showcased recorders and all different sizes, and the recorder 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.000 kind of got off staged when the flute came into 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.000 Europe and Asia and gradually stole the show. But adult 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.000 musicians do still compose four and play the recorder today. 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:00.280 According to Susan Burns, who's the administrative director of the 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.560 American Recorder Society, quote, the recorder is a professional instrument 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.600 in its own right. Everyone says, oh, it's so easy 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:12.040 to play, but it takes a lifetime to master. Yeah, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.880 it's funny. I don't know if you've ever seen this, 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.120 this clip that went viral of you hear the song 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.960 turned down for what being played, and then right after 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.280 they say that, it pans to this group of elementary 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.040 school students and they start playing the like chorus or 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.520 whatever on their recorders. It it was pretty great. I know, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.840 we've got so much more. So let's take a quick break. 0:14:45.720 --> 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, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.880 as you know, there's a question every parent has to 0:14:53.920 --> 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 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.080 of school. Like, it's a scary amount of change for 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.200 a child to deal with, and there's no universal answer 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.960 for how to combat that fear. But the Germans and 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.080 Austrians have what's probably the closest thing I think and 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.240 what is up. Well, basically you distract them with a 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.320 giant cone full of present. I mean, it seems so 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.520 obvious in hindsight, but this is a real thing in 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.760 Germany and Austria. So each year since the early eight hundred's, 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.440 the latest crop of first graders are gifted with what's 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.840 called a school to to, which is to help celebrate 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.600 their very first day of school. The name translates as 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.440 school bag, but it's more like this giant cone shaped 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.640 Christmas stocking. So parents will fashion it out of paper 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.960 and it's sometimes as big as two or three feet tall, 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.040 and then they fill it with like candy and toys 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.600 and all these other treats to help make the first 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.400 day of school more special. Actually, just look this up. 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.560 It's crazy. These cones are like as big as the kids. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:02.000 It's insane. There is all the first year students just 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.760 lugged these giant cones around like all day. Well not 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.680 anymore now, I mean, nowadays, most kids get their sholta, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.560 does it at home and and leave it there. But 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.440 back in the early days of the tradition, kids actually 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.320 had to rush to the schoolyard and pick their own 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.640 from this tree that was set to grow them only 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.080 when it was time for the school year to start. 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.840 I say, that's amazing. I can imagine kids just like 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.360 waiting like at the gates and then running in and 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.680 getting these plucking these cones from trews. It is kind 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.360 of funny that you brought up cones, because I actually 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.400 have the goods on a different sort of cone that 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.360 was supposed to I guess bring up the opposite reaction, 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.680 and that's the dunce cap. So during the Victorian era, 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.840 this goofy cone shaped hat became a symbolic form of 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.200 discipline and European and American schools alike, and if a 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.760 student acted up in class or didn't know the answer 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:50.880 to a question, they'd have to go sit in the corner. 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.080 And I'm sure you're seeing cartoons of like Dennis the 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.280 Menace or whatever where he's wearing a dunce cap sitting 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.120 in the corner. But the hope was all this embarrassment 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.600 with curtail future misbehaved year. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:03.840 like a little public shaming to keep the kids in line. 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.639 You know. Well, it must have been pretty traumatizing for 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.320 the kids. But the practice actually continued in the US 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.440 and Europe well into the twentieth century, and Dunce caps 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.640 were pretty common all the way up until the nineteen fifties. Oh. 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:17.840 I do think of it as like a much older image. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.679 I didn't realize they lasted that long. Yeah. So here's 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.760 the wildest part and something I hadn't heard before this week. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.560 But we think about the Dunce cap as something that 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.439 signifies like a lack of intelligence, and it actually began 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.280 as a symbol of a really accomplished scholar. Born sometime 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.400 in the thirteenth century. His name was John Dunn Scotus, 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.800 and he was a Franciscan priest and a linguist. He 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.600 studied theology and philosophy at Oxford and taught classes at 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.240 the University of Paris. And he even had a group 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.160 of students and others that kind of followed his teachings 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.840 and and lived near him, and they called themselves duncemen. 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.920 So Atlas Obscure has an article about it, and it says, quote, 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.240 Scotus 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 Scotis liked to wear a big, pointy wizard 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.080 hat whenever he went out in public. So while he 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.880 was this incredibly smart guy, his sense of fashion might 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.679 be a little lacking or a little too forward, you know, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.800 depending on how you how you look at it. But 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:16.640 the cool thing is, and no one is really sure 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.000 whether Scotis was inspired by depictions of wizards that he'd seen, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.520 or whether it was his own cap that inspired the 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.720 wizard's look that that we think of now. I think 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.280 in either case, it sounds like the takeaway here is 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.000 that wise people wear very pointy hats. I think that's 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.879 the only thing I could take from Oh but you know, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.679 Scotis even went a step further. He actually believed that 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.640 the conical shape of his hat kind of functioned as 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.679 this metaphysical reverse funnel, with knowledge collecting at the pointy 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.720 end and then flowing down around his brain. And and 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.399 so as silly as it sounds, the idea caught on 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:51.639 with academics of the day, and and the cone shaped 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:55.080 cat became the symbol of both duntsmen and of high 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.280 intelligence in general. A sort of bizarre So like what happened? 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:00.640 Like what changed the hats from a mark of pride 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.520 to this symbol of shame? I guess, funnily enough, it's 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.240 actually the Renaissance that changed it. So by the mid 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.720 sixteenth century, popular theology and philosophy had moved away from 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.280 Scotus and his teachings, and that lack of popular favor 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.639 made the remaining Dunsmen look silly and kind of outdated. 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.680 Plus their pointy hats didn't help, so over time, the 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.800 dunceman and the dunce cap kind of became the symbol 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.679 of foolishness and stupidity. Such a strange legacy. On the 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.640 bright side, though, historians have kind of vindicated Scotus over 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:32.560 the years, and he's not held up as one of 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.920 the finest thinkers of the Middle Ages, and Pope John 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.320 Paul the second even beautified him back in for his 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.520 work as a religious scholar. So who knows, maybe we 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.000 can turn things around for this famous cap too. Anyway, 0:19:45.000 --> 0:20:00.640 We've got more to come, but first, a quick break 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.199 welcome back to part time genius. So will you've probably 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:06.760 heard by now that sitting is the new smoking when 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:08.840 it comes to health concerns, and that's why so many 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.640 offices these days are switching the standing desk for their workers. 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.920 But you know, despite all the studies touting the health 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.600 benefits of standing over sitting, it's unusual to find standing 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.040 desks in elementary schools, which I mean, that's a good 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.359 point because it is kind of weird when you think 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.680 about I mean us whom all the benefits of standing 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.640 desk apply just as well as students as they would 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.280 to adult office workers. Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.000 So there was this study that came out last year 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.280 and it found that third graders who used a standing 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.320 desk at school were more focused in the classroom and 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.080 more active overall compared to kids of the same age 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.359 he used traditional sit down desks. And another study came 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.760 up with the same results for second through fourth graders, 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.720 setting a twelve percent increase and engagement from students who 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.639 had the option of standing in class. I mean, it 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.280 does sound like things might change in the not too 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.360 distant future, and maybe we'll see standing desks become more 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.600 of the norm in these classrooms. Yeah, so, a handful 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.119 of elementary schools across the country have already started adding 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.600 standing desk to the classrooms, and I'm guessing more and 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.000 more schools will jump on the trend as they become 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.640