EMAG-3

I did a science fair project in high school, but I put so little effort into it that I'm now embarrassed thinking back on it. The topic I chose was "The Electrolysis of Water." I basically just had some electrodes splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

David Ecklein, however, had an extraordinary high school science fair project. Back in 1959, he built a computer, which he named EMAG-3, that was capable of playing "an interesting and reasonable game" of checkers. It was made from 3200 vacuum tubes and three miles of wiring. It stood 15 feet tall.

On his website, he notes that he designed it to fit the science fair floor space requirements, knowing that the regulations had omitted to mention anything about how high a project could be. Height restrictions were introduced the following year.

More info: MIT Museum

Great Falls Tribune - Apr 17, 1959

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 13, 2022 - Comments (6)
Category: School, Technology, Computers, 1950s

Toe-Popper Returns

Olayinka Alege made the news (including News of the Weird) back in 2009. As Assistant Principal of Tampa's King High School, he was in the habit of disciplining students with sagging grades by "toe-popping" them. This involved having them remove their shoes and socks, then bending or pulling a toe until it made a popping noise. This didn't hurt, but the students understandably were weirded out by it. One student was toe-popped twenty times.

Last month Alege was back in the news. He's now up in Providence, RI, but still working in the public school system. He's been charged with forcibly massaging a student's feet. For the record, he's pleading not guilty.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 26, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Crime, School, Feet

Father Christmas Training School

It's still kinda the holiday season, right? Orthodox Xmas was just a few days ago!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 11, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, School, United Kingdom

Students stunned as teacher bites head off chicken

The incident that occurred in the 'leadership training' class of Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Powell on Sep 1, 1983, as described by his superior, Col. Donald Taylor:


And then on speaking to Powell later about the incident:


Compare this to the pre-game frog-head biting that was practiced at Eau Gallie High School in Florida.

Mansfield News-Journal - Sep 17, 1983

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 31, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, School

Graduated Alone

May 1949: Eva Mae Bradbury was the only member of her graduating class at the public school in Ada, Kansas. The school nevertheless put on a full commencement program for her, attended by 150 people (which was about the entire population of Ada).

Decatur Herald and Review - May 21, 1949

Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 05, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: School, 1940s

How to raise a genius

According to Harold G. McCurdy, a professor at the University of North Carolina, the first step was to not send your kids to public school.

Not that he had anything against public schools, having sent his own kids to one. And he questioned whether raising kids to be geniuses was a desireable goal, since he believed that geniuses often led isolated, unhappy lives.

Nevertheless, based on his study of the childhoods of 29 geniuses, conducted back in 1960, he determined that "three striking factors seemed to be typical of the childhood pattern of genius":


"Public school education," he declared, "works against these three things."

Apparently McCurdy's study has been embraced by some proponents of home schooling. Although I don't get the sense that it was his intention to promote that.

You can read McCurdy's full study here: The Childhood Pattern of Genius

The Oklahoma Daily - Feb 17, 1961

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 15, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Education, Intelligence, School, 1960s

Temporarily Blind

May 1974: Three students at Northeast High School in Philadelphia participated in a medical experiment in which for five days they experienced what it was like to be blind.

I'm guessing this kind of experiment would never be allowed nowadays in a high school.





Source: Temple University digital collections (image one, image two)

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 09, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: School, Experiments, 1970s

Paid to teach empty classroom

An early example of the "teacher paid to do nothing" phenomenon. Nowadays we've got the Rubber Room.

Portsmouth Daily Times - Jan 16, 1926

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 13, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: School, 1920s

Divorcee banned from chess club

1971: 16-year-old Soni Romans was banned from all extracurricular activities at at Channelview High School in Houston. This included school choir, chess club, drama, and the National Honor Society. The reason for the ban was that she had been married and divorced and had a child (which she gave up for adoption). Therefore, the school felt that she shouldn't be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities because, during them, she "might discuss sex with other students."

However, if she had simply had the child without getting married and divorced, the same regulation wouldn't have applied. Unwed mothers were free to participate in the extracurriculars. Romans sued the school and won, so the ban was eventually lifted.

The Cincinnati Enquirer - Nov 14, 1971

The Akron Beacon Journal - Feb 17, 1972

Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 19, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: School, Regulations, Divorce, 1970s

School chief shot a moon

October 1978: Cleveland School Board President John E. Gallagher Jr. was charged with a misdemeanor and fined $100. The prosecutor explained the reason for the charge to the press: "He shot a moon — that's what he did." A state trooper had witnessed Gallagher, who was a passenger in a car driving north along I-271, pull his pants down and expose his bare buttocks to his brother, who was driving in a passing car. Gallagher pleaded no contest.

The Akron Beacon Journal - Nov 1, 1978

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 27, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: School, 1970s, Pranks