Ruby LaRocca—the winner of our high school essay contest—urges her generation to read old books, memorize poems, and invite senior citizens to parties.
Great job Ruby!!! I’ve been telling my kids for years to read books, fiction and non-fiction and also trying to show them by example. Sometimes they’ve listened. Parents, read in front of your children! Parents, pick a day a week to stay off the internet completely (Saturday, Shabbat for me)! Parents share the books that best helped you to shape your self as you were growing up! Ruby, please find a way to teach even if part time or volunteering. Well done essay! Thanks!
You go, Ruby!!! Right on the money!!! Please, please, please become an advocate for education reform, you just might end up saving the next generation as well as your own!!
I think the Ruby LaRocca Constitution should be the foundation for a forward looking "progressive" public school system. People with Ruby's values and intellect should not have to retreat to home schooling. MATHA (Make America Think Hard Again). Thanks Ruby and thanks Bari and team at The Free Press for giving the future a free press.
Ruby LaRocca—the winner... I am eager to hear from her... in the future... in the present... Well done wonderful young adult. Wisdom is lived... Honor is learned... Hunger fuels the soul for richness in words....
Ruby LaRocca's essay should be must reading for all High School principals and especially for teachers unions and politicians who are hell bent on making high school easier and easier for kids to pass. This teenager is wiser than most adults.
Secondly, "Books that are “representative,” that are more easily “absorbed,” undermine the main reason to read them: to push readers beyond themselves in uncomfortable and productive ways."
Exactly! Art should bring us out of ourselves. I'm sick to death of the notion that we need to see a world that "looks like" ourselves. If that's what you want, get a mirror!
So much to commend in this article, but a favorite is "I sometimes don’t understand what I’m learning or memorizing when I study poetry, but I believe Hector when he says it prepares us for the very real events of the world—going to war, falling in love, falling out of love, making a friend, losing a friend, having a child, losing a child."
In other words, being a human being with thoughts and feelings we ourselves may not fully understand. A remarkable insight!
Wonderful, and yes, sign her up as a regular contributor! My favorite, and one I hope to emulate (at least somewhat) is to do away with the “machine for feeling bad”. Thoroughly enjoyed her essay! My corps of girlfriends, we all thoroughly enjoy “The Free Press”, and this essay is just one more reason why. Thank you!
I loved this and shared it with so many friends and family. I was moved to tears with the final line, “I promise your heart will stop sinking.” What an absolute gift.
As a near-retirement university professor who has been engaged in bringing many students to the intellectual trough, I am worn out by students at university who do not read and have no intellectual curiosity about, well, anything. I have asked them directly - What are you curious about intellectually? - and nearly always I am faced with the slack-jawed teenager she describes. As the old folk song went: "Where have all the flowers gone?" I miss the bouquet that I used to see.
This young woman is a vibrant, bright, and inspiring flower. Thank you, Ruby LaRocca. You made my upcoming last semester. You will not be there, but know that I will be teaching for you.
At 87 yrs., I teared up with joy in knowing kids like this brilliant youngster exist.
A brilliant young beacon of hope in a darkening world.
Great job Ruby!!! I’ve been telling my kids for years to read books, fiction and non-fiction and also trying to show them by example. Sometimes they’ve listened. Parents, read in front of your children! Parents, pick a day a week to stay off the internet completely (Saturday, Shabbat for me)! Parents share the books that best helped you to shape your self as you were growing up! Ruby, please find a way to teach even if part time or volunteering. Well done essay! Thanks!
You go, Ruby!!! Right on the money!!! Please, please, please become an advocate for education reform, you just might end up saving the next generation as well as your own!!
I think the Ruby LaRocca Constitution should be the foundation for a forward looking "progressive" public school system. People with Ruby's values and intellect should not have to retreat to home schooling. MATHA (Make America Think Hard Again). Thanks Ruby and thanks Bari and team at The Free Press for giving the future a free press.
Ruby LaRocca—the winner... I am eager to hear from her... in the future... in the present... Well done wonderful young adult. Wisdom is lived... Honor is learned... Hunger fuels the soul for richness in words....
Ruby LaRocca's essay should be must reading for all High School principals and especially for teachers unions and politicians who are hell bent on making high school easier and easier for kids to pass. This teenager is wiser than most adults.
Secondly, "Books that are “representative,” that are more easily “absorbed,” undermine the main reason to read them: to push readers beyond themselves in uncomfortable and productive ways."
Exactly! Art should bring us out of ourselves. I'm sick to death of the notion that we need to see a world that "looks like" ourselves. If that's what you want, get a mirror!
So much to commend in this article, but a favorite is "I sometimes don’t understand what I’m learning or memorizing when I study poetry, but I believe Hector when he says it prepares us for the very real events of the world—going to war, falling in love, falling out of love, making a friend, losing a friend, having a child, losing a child."
In other words, being a human being with thoughts and feelings we ourselves may not fully understand. A remarkable insight!
Wow, Wow, Wow, I’m truly blown away- I hope and pray this incredible young lady doesn’t get swallowed and silenced by the current mediocrity !
My children are grown, pre cellphones.I loved this essay. Congratulations on so many levels.Wishing Ruby success and hope that many heed her advise.
and Let There Be Hope!
As a Latin scholar I can confirm that Ruby's having translated 500 lines of Propertius at her age proclaims her genius.
Wonderful, and yes, sign her up as a regular contributor! My favorite, and one I hope to emulate (at least somewhat) is to do away with the “machine for feeling bad”. Thoroughly enjoyed her essay! My corps of girlfriends, we all thoroughly enjoy “The Free Press”, and this essay is just one more reason why. Thank you!
I loved this and shared it with so many friends and family. I was moved to tears with the final line, “I promise your heart will stop sinking.” What an absolute gift.
As a near-retirement university professor who has been engaged in bringing many students to the intellectual trough, I am worn out by students at university who do not read and have no intellectual curiosity about, well, anything. I have asked them directly - What are you curious about intellectually? - and nearly always I am faced with the slack-jawed teenager she describes. As the old folk song went: "Where have all the flowers gone?" I miss the bouquet that I used to see.
This young woman is a vibrant, bright, and inspiring flower. Thank you, Ruby LaRocca. You made my upcoming last semester. You will not be there, but know that I will be teaching for you.