"basket weaving" revisited

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 5/24/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> Earlier cites for plain "basket weaving":
>
> 1942 _Chicago Daily Tribune_ 14 Feb. 19/7 The modern barbarians, he
> said, are "the educational pragmatists who want us to teach such
> 'practical' courses as folk dancing, basket weaving, and the
> intellect-straining problems of traffic violations."

Slightly earlier pedagogical griping:

1940 _Ogden (Utah) Standard Examiner_ 29 Aug. 6A/5 It appears our
entire educational system has gone soft. The United States army air
corps has countless examples of boys seeking enlistment, given half
and whole college credits for basket-weaving, pottery and, tops of all
in one instance, "recreational reading."


--Ben Zimmer

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