Skippy and the 3 R's (1953)

★★★ · First Grade · JSBejma · 2014-12-26

Bad news for ya, Skippy. There's at least eleven more of those grades ahead. So drilling kids isn't good? Hmmm. Sounds familiar. But it's today's HS grads that can't even figure out change at a register. This film was quite revolutionary for its time to be talking like that. Our first grade had a red table for the smart kids, a green table for the in between ones, and a big blue table for the dummies, many of which were really quite "out to lunch" - several I know for a fact were from broken homes. In the succeeding few years, most kids stayed just about where they were in that grade…

★★ · School Won't Be So Bad, Says Negative Dad · Dodsworth the Cat · 2022-12-01

Poor kid. What parents he's got. First, they name him "Skippy" (how will that go over when he's in high school?). His mother yells "Hold still!" at him. His bow-tied, cheapskate father dismisses his request for a bike then implies he doesn't know to ride one. Eventually, Skippy has to cut his own deal for a bike. This prepares him for the real world (more than waterpainting a house in school) as a used car salesman. I'm a little surprised he doesn't know how to read or write in Grade 1. Was that usual back then? The narrator praises his teacher's abilities in the classroom, but all she seems…