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Let's suppose your kid has been labeled as bright by the Educational Experts. What does that kid need to succeed in classes for the gifted and beyond them, as a Leader of Tomorrow?
Sixty years ago, the answer to that question was (cue drum roll) ... A set of encyclopedias!
https://beatcrave.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-the-encyclopedia-salesman-by-reese-lansangan/
Let's just say that back then, educators believed in streaming not mainstreaming, and in enrichment not homogenization. And while those long-ago Educational Experts might now be tossing and turning in their graves if they knew what some of us had become, I can see upsides and downsides to both approaches, depending on the particular child.
Anyway, sixty years ago, my parents did indeed buy the World Book Encyclopedia. Those green-and-white volumes made the journey to my mother's retirement home and after she died, they came into my possession. I still have a sentimental attachment to them which is probably just as well, since the places that will accept your discarded books mostly stipulate NO ENCYCLOPEDIAS OR TEXTBOOKS!!! Still, once I shuffle off this mortal coil, I suspect they are doomed to end up in the great graveyard in the landfill, and my grandchildren will have to pay the dumping fees!
So the encyclopedia was actually not a bad investment, though perhaps not quite for the same reasons as those touted by Encyclopedia Salesman of the Year 1964, or by those Educational Experts who decided via the black magic (or at the very least grey magic) of I.Q. tests that I showed promise.
Fortunately I was the kind of kid who loved reading encyclopedias and dictionaries and almanacs, picking up useless bits of random information that my much-more-learned older siblings might not know.
So as a tribute to the World Book Encyclopedia and to encyclopaediae in general, allow me to present a few selected excerpts.
First off, from the entry for EDUCATION. It begins as follows:
"EDUCATION includes all the ways in which one person deliberately tries to influence the behavior of another person."
The entry goes on to distinguish between formal education and informal education. In terms of people and institutions (other than actual schools and teachers) that educate, the article credits: parents; libraries and museums; churches; and governments.
The entire article takes up nine pages, including various illustrations, tables, diagrams, a map of world literacy rates, and a list of suggested further reading. Of course, it has to be borne in mind that it's an encyclopedia aimed at children and deals in much more detail with the American context. There are nine sections to the article: three for education in general, three for education in the U.S., and one each for Canada, "Other countries" and "International education".
One feature of the encyclopedia that always fascinated me as a child was the trade-named Trans-vision maps. Under the entry for CANADA, Its Changing Frontiers, there was a map of Canada showing its physical topography. On top of it were 6 transparent pages showing the political divisions in 1763, 1812 ("Brave explorers probe the far Northwest" it informed me),1846, 1873, 1914, and "Canada Today" [i.e. 1964].
The entry under HUMAN BODY also had Trans-vision overlays, beginning with a skeleton over which you could (just by turning the page!) gradually overlay the various internal organs, veins and arteries, and so forth, all of them meticulously labelled. If you remember the buildable 3D models of The Invisible Man that used to be sold in hobby shops (maybe they still are), this was basically a 2D version of it. Mind you, I'm hard-pressed even as an adult to determine whether it's an invisible man or woman or intersex person - they do seem to have done their utmost to keep them gender-neutral!
Obviously an encyclopedia geared to kids - or any encyclopedia, for that matter - is not going to fulfil all of a person's homework-related or research-related needs for long. But 60 years ago, it was not a bad starting point. And it's interesting to note that World Book is one of the few encyclopedias that continues to publish in print, in hardcover, and on genuine glossy (and Trans-Vision) paper:
https://www.theledger.com/story/business/columns/2024/01/06/yes-world-book-encyclopedia-still-publishes-in-print-gadget-daddy/72110891007/
Sixty years ago, the answer to that question was (cue drum roll) ... A set of encyclopedias!
https://beatcrave.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-the-encyclopedia-salesman-by-reese-lansangan/
Let's just say that back then, educators believed in streaming not mainstreaming, and in enrichment not homogenization. And while those long-ago Educational Experts might now be tossing and turning in their graves if they knew what some of us had become, I can see upsides and downsides to both approaches, depending on the particular child.
Anyway, sixty years ago, my parents did indeed buy the World Book Encyclopedia. Those green-and-white volumes made the journey to my mother's retirement home and after she died, they came into my possession. I still have a sentimental attachment to them which is probably just as well, since the places that will accept your discarded books mostly stipulate NO ENCYCLOPEDIAS OR TEXTBOOKS!!! Still, once I shuffle off this mortal coil, I suspect they are doomed to end up in the great graveyard in the landfill, and my grandchildren will have to pay the dumping fees!
So the encyclopedia was actually not a bad investment, though perhaps not quite for the same reasons as those touted by Encyclopedia Salesman of the Year 1964, or by those Educational Experts who decided via the black magic (or at the very least grey magic) of I.Q. tests that I showed promise.
Fortunately I was the kind of kid who loved reading encyclopedias and dictionaries and almanacs, picking up useless bits of random information that my much-more-learned older siblings might not know.
So as a tribute to the World Book Encyclopedia and to encyclopaediae in general, allow me to present a few selected excerpts.
First off, from the entry for EDUCATION. It begins as follows:
"EDUCATION includes all the ways in which one person deliberately tries to influence the behavior of another person."
The entry goes on to distinguish between formal education and informal education. In terms of people and institutions (other than actual schools and teachers) that educate, the article credits: parents; libraries and museums; churches; and governments.
The entire article takes up nine pages, including various illustrations, tables, diagrams, a map of world literacy rates, and a list of suggested further reading. Of course, it has to be borne in mind that it's an encyclopedia aimed at children and deals in much more detail with the American context. There are nine sections to the article: three for education in general, three for education in the U.S., and one each for Canada, "Other countries" and "International education".
One feature of the encyclopedia that always fascinated me as a child was the trade-named Trans-vision maps. Under the entry for CANADA, Its Changing Frontiers, there was a map of Canada showing its physical topography. On top of it were 6 transparent pages showing the political divisions in 1763, 1812 ("Brave explorers probe the far Northwest" it informed me),1846, 1873, 1914, and "Canada Today" [i.e. 1964].
The entry under HUMAN BODY also had Trans-vision overlays, beginning with a skeleton over which you could (just by turning the page!) gradually overlay the various internal organs, veins and arteries, and so forth, all of them meticulously labelled. If you remember the buildable 3D models of The Invisible Man that used to be sold in hobby shops (maybe they still are), this was basically a 2D version of it. Mind you, I'm hard-pressed even as an adult to determine whether it's an invisible man or woman or intersex person - they do seem to have done their utmost to keep them gender-neutral!
Obviously an encyclopedia geared to kids - or any encyclopedia, for that matter - is not going to fulfil all of a person's homework-related or research-related needs for long. But 60 years ago, it was not a bad starting point. And it's interesting to note that World Book is one of the few encyclopedias that continues to publish in print, in hardcover, and on genuine glossy (and Trans-Vision) paper:
https://www.theledger.com/story/business/columns/2024/01/06/yes-world-book-encyclopedia-still-publishes-in-print-gadget-daddy/72110891007/
