Night school

[laughs]

I think if you said, "Woody, would you like Jesus's weekend or 13 years of night school?" I'd have picked Jesus's weekend twice.

You have not seen The Passion of the Christ.

No.

That's like about two days.

So they killed him-

And they killed him the same day the torture started? That's way better than night school.

No.

THE YOUNG SCHOOL MISTRESS The following day Paula had a word with my father regarding the matter.

now don't worry any more about the breton paula he answered he knows enough to do what's necessary to gain his living and if he wants to work faithfully and not spend all his money on drink he can do that without knowing how to read however if it bothers you because he cannot read why don't you advise him to go to night school i can't imagine what could have happened to him but he's changed mightily and for the better i only hope the change in him will last The days grew longer, the snow disappeared, and the trees and fields began to put on their spring clothes.

Week by week, the Bretons' home also began to show a marvelous transformation.

The pigs who formerly found the garden a sort of happy rooting ground now found themselves confronted with a neat fence that resisted all their attacks.

Also, I would like to help my children, that they might have a better chance than hitherto I have given them.

But there you are, I'm just a poor ignorant man, and I suppose I always shall be.

well said paula why don't you attend the night school no mademoiselle and the breton shook his head that's all very well for the young fellows who have learned a little something and wish to learn a bit more but me at my age and i don't even know the letter a from b and i have such a dull head that i would soon tire out the best of teachers well supposing i tried teaching you said paula timidly you mademoiselle cried the breton stupefied you to try such a thing as to teach me and why not if my uncle should let me well mademoiselle that would be different i believe that with you to teach me i might be able to learn and the breton leaned on his spade for a moment you are so good and kind and patient i would not be afraid of your making fun of my stupid efforts but there there's no use thinking about such a thing for i'm sure the master would never permit it in fact it did take a good deal to persuade my father but paula won his permission at last the breton came every saturday night teresa complained a bit at first seeing her kitchen turned into a night-school for such a rough ignorant workman but for jesus christ's sake as paula said she had finally become resigned to it it was both pathetic and comical to see the efforts which the poor breton made as he tried to follow with one great finger the letters which his young teacher pointed out to him he stumbled on making many mistakes but never discouraged sometimes the sweat poured from him when the task appeared too great for him at such times he would put his head in his hands for a moment and then with a great sigh he would start again At the end of a month he had learned the alphabet and nothing more, and even then he would make mistakes in naming some of the letters.

Oh, let him go, said Teresa.

While I was at the university, I completed two master's degrees and a nutrition certification, all while working full-time.

Which brings me to today's topic, which is how my part-time student experience actually inspired a new experiment that I conducted recently that I call Night School.

And by the way, if you are new here, welcome.

I am Kat, and on this podcast, I share behind the scenes as I try real-time experiments to help me to follow through on what matters and find momentum as a speaker and a writer.

Now, this night school experiment, it actually came from a joke that I made about my struggles with follow through.

I commented to a friend, how is it that I completed two master's degrees while working full time, but I can't even keep my kitchen clean? Welcome to ADHD.

But the joke I made actually lingered and it stuck with me because I thought, well, OK, how was I able to do that? And the answer is that I had structure.

But in this case, I thought, okay, now in this point in my life, I do have a bit more of a predictable schedule after a particularly challenging year personally.

This was brought up by a girl of our organization, Doris Johnson, who on Christmas Day, in taking gifts to a poor family, had found a woman critically ill and with no funds.

for aid or comforts and instantly in Doris's quick young mind a vision of a big city hospital took form and on a following day Gatsby and his organization at City Hall do just talk and you know how that bunch can talk to a councilman or two now if any kind of a building in all this big world costs good hard cash to build and furnish it is a hospital and it is also a building which a public knows nothing about so Mayor Gatsby saw that if his council would pass an appropriation for it no such squabbling as had struck his municipal auditorium plan would occur but Gatsby forgot Branton Hill's landlords all of whom had a most glorious spot just right for a hospital until finally a group of physicians was told to look around and did Branton Hill's landlords call upon Branton Hill's physicians I'll say so anybody visiting town not knowing what was going on would think that vacant land was as common as raindrops in a cloudburst small plots sprang into public light which couldn't hold a poultry barn to say nothing of a big city hospital but no grasping landlord can fool physicians in talking up a hospital location so it was finally built on high land with a charming vista across Branton Hill's suburbs and distant hills amongst which Gatsby's charity auto and bus trips took so many happy invalids on past hot days now it is only fair that our boys and girls of this famous organization of youth should walk forward for an introduction to you so I will bring forth such bright and loyal girls as Doris Johnson Dorothy Fitz Lucy Donaldson Mary Ann Hopkins Priscilla Standish Abigail Worthington Sarah Young and Virginia Adams amongst the boys cast a fond look upon Arthur Rankin Frank Morgan John Hamilton Paul Johnson Oscar Knott and William Snow as smart a bunch of youth as you could find in a month of Sundays as soon as our big hospital was built and functioning Sarah Young and Priscilla Standish in talking with groups of girls had found a longing for a night school as so many folks had to work all day so couldn't go to our manual training school so Mayor Gatsby took it up with Branton Hill's school board now school boards do not always think in harmony with mayors and councils in fact what with school boards councils taxation boards paving contractors Sunday closing hour agitations railway rights of way and all-around political mudslinging a mayor has a tough job two of Gatsby's school boards said no a right out loud slam bang big no two thought that a night school was a good thing but four with a faint glow of financial wisdom a rarity in politics today saw no cash in sight for such an institution but Gatsby's famous organization won again Branton Hill's did not contain a family in which this organization wasn't known and many a sock was brought out from hiding and many a sofa pillow cut into to aid any plan in which this group had a part but just as funds had grown to what Mayor Gatsby thought would fill all such wants a row in council as to this fund's application got so hot that his honor got mad mighty mad and said why is it that any bill for appropriations coming up in this council has to kick up such a rumpus why can't you look at such things with a public mind for nothing can so aid toward passing bills as harmony this city is not holding off an attacking army Branton Hill's is not a pack of wild animals snapping and snarling by day jumping at a crackling twig at night it is a city of humans animals if you wish but with a gift from on high of a brain so far apart from all dumb animals as to allow us to talk about our public affairs calmly and thoughtfully all this night school rumpus is foolish naturally what is taught in such a school is an important factor so I want to find out from our organization at this point old Bill Simpkins got up with this organization of youth stuff puts a kink in my spinal column almost all of it is through school so how can you bring such a group forward as pupils a child said Gatsby who had such schooling as Branton Hill's affords is naturally still a pupil for many will follow up a study if an opportunity is at hand many adults also carry out a custom of brushing up on unfamiliar topics thus also ranking as pupils possibly Bill if you would look up that word pupil you wouldn't find so much fault with insignificant data all right was Simpkins snap back but what I want to know is what our big public library is for your pupils can find all sorts of information in that big building so why build a night school it's nothing but a duplication a library said Gatsby is not a school it has no instructors you cannot talk in its rooms you may find a book or two on your study or you may not you would find it a big handicap if you think that you can accomplish much with no aid but that sort of a public library young folks know what young folks want to study it is foolish say to install a class in astronomy for although it is a night school its pupils thoughts might not turn toward Mars Saturn or shooting stars But shorthand, including training for typists among adults who naturally don't go to day schools, is most important today.

Also history and corporation law.

And I know that a study of music would attract many.

Branton Hills folks, in passing it on going out for a show or social call, caught most savory whiffs as its cooking class was producing donuts and biscuits.

For Miss Chapman, long famous as a cook for Branton Hills Women's Club, had about 40 girls finding out about that magic art.

So too occasionally a cranky old councilman who had fought against this foolish night school proposition would pass by.

And oh hum, a councilman is only an animal, you know.