The fact that few of us learned math seemed to be a recurring them at the reunion of the Upper West Side Progressive High School That No Longer Exists (UWSPHSTNLE) And that fact continues to inform the post-reunion emails.
Hedge Fund: I just calculated the monies, and I have some good news to report. We spent approximately $6,260. We took in approximately $6,200. A number of folks did make slightly larger contributions, and that more than covered those who couldn’t. So despite all of our rudimentary math skills, we even managed to run a balanced budget.
Executive Producer: How much is 6260 minus 6200?
Corporate Lawyer: Looks like $60 to me. More beer. (The idea is to pitch in, except for Hedge Fund, until his $60 is paid back…)
School Director: Now that’s impressive! Maybe you know all the math you need to know…
of us on the committee. $20 divided by 9 is $2.22. I’ll send you a
check I promise, but why does it have to be certified???
Former Principal: You all seemed to fall for Hedge Fund’s good news about how closely the income matched expenses. He did not have the faintest idea how much was collected or spent……
Corporate Lawyer: I think we should go have
a beer.
While math skills may have been lacking, many of the former students felt that the school had taught them important values nonetheless. Here is a sampling of answers to the question: How did the UWSPHSTNLE inform the life you live today?:
If you don’t see what you want create it. +++ Taught me to question authority and the world so that I may find my own interpretation of the world. +++ Provided me a sense of morality, reason and fairness, which is often absent in the world. +++ Promoted a sense of humor and creativity that sets me apart. +++ The sense that we could change the world. +++ Much personal initiative and a somewhat troublesome approach to authority. +++ It made me curious about how it all works. +++ Less conformist. More willing to try alternatives. +++ Made me broadminded enough to be socially liberal and a downright hawk on foreign affairs. +++ Learning that we as individuals have the power to change the world. +++ Helped me have the ability to look through the window dressing and see the realities underneath. +++ We should be measured by our efforts on behalf of inclusiveness not exclusiveness. +++ It made me critical of authority and accepted wisdom, and made me want to find a job where I could help to make a difference in the world. +++ I continue to be an active thinker and learner; I don’t approach things passively. +++ I believed I could make a difference wherever I went.
…it WAS a house party!� So well put together, so perfectly produced for
everyone’s enjoyment and comfort. You all turned out pretty terrific
(no surprise). The moving and heartfelt "speeches"–I look forward to
reading them online. Saturday night was great. Sunday’s picnic…such a
pleasure to see the pint-sized to young adult children, so many of them
reminders of you. Then catapulted 30 years back: that video! You all
looked so JOYOUS!!! All in all, a dizzying, wonderful kaleidoscope of
past, present and future, an incredible gift from each to all. Congratulations
once again! What an affirmation.
Affirmation. That’s it. Affirmation of where we’ve been and who we’ve become. Thirty years later, we came together — students, teachers, administration — and honored a unique and endangered kind of school that obviously influenced all of us in such a positive way.
I for one agree with Corporate Lawyer: Let’s all have a beer.