Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 17, 2013

When is this kid gets transfered or something “old fashioned” that it is now considered child abuse.

I’ve never been fond of the classic baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano for a science project. Sure, it looks cool, but it doesn’t tell you anything at all about real vulcanism. Better to do a more visually-boring project with diagrams of heat profiles below the surface, or some such. Alternately, you could do a good science project on acid-base reactions, but in that case you would do the mixing in glassware, not in a papier-mache mountain.

mentos and diet coke….instant fun. what about pop rocks and coke?

Maybe I’d have like science more if we’d done things like this. All I remember is refusing to make a model of the solar system, in the fifth grade. Way too boring. Language arts, though – foreign and domestic – now that’s some fun!

Kudos to the Discovery Channel

At least her glasses didn’t get fogged up.

Why? He is the curious child many of us were before we had to fit into an education system that catered to the ‘average’ student and below without challenging the student who really wanted to learn. Kids today have so much more information available to them than the outdated World Book Encyclopedia set in the school library of my day. Except for the violence and bullying (which we had bullying back then), I’d love to be a kid with so much more learning opportunities available in terms of space, robotics, and communications. You really want to ‘kill’ a kid? Kill their sense of curiosity and wonder. I’m sorry that seemed to happen to you.

@emjaycee * Thank you!!! The contrast between Clem and Caulfield is completely apt. Caulfield is a true intellectual, albeit a young and restless one, with a huge range of interests, while Clem is a single-minded little schemer. Caulfield hangs with Frazz because (a) Frazz gets him because he is just like him, (b) Frazz doesn’t have to discipline him, and © when Frazz does exert some authority, it’s okay because Frazz is not an authority “figure.” Considering what Frazz has told us (early on) about Caulfield’s parents, I’m guessing Caulfield will grow up to be a lot like Frazz. Because Clem reveals nothing about himself except his fixation on hogging, it’s hard to predict much. But his parents and aunt/uncle are patient and uncritical, so he’ll probably turn out okay. Eventually.

@emjaycee * And I love “Fibber McGee and Molly”!