Astronaut Alan B. Shepard (L) recieving an award from President John F. Kennedy (R). (Photo by Joseph Scherschel//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard in space suit. (Photo by Ralph Morse//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
“That day in may 1961 when our teacher brought a TV to school” by Carl D’Agostino
May 14, 2016
Carl D'Agostino
I Know I Made You Smile 
27 responses to ““That day in may 1961 when our teacher brought a TV to school” by Carl D’Agostino”
silentlyheardonce
May 21st, 2016 at 14:55
Look where technology took us in just 55 years. I was a baby for that bit of history but I saw the moon walk in school.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 30th, 2016 at 16:24
Astonishing how that effort of the moon walk is so overlooked, undervalued and dismissed by today’s society. From Kitty Hawk to the moon in 66 years – what an accomplishment !
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pattisj
May 20th, 2016 at 01:25
What a great memory, Carl. We couldn’t wait to be in 6th grade. The teacher/principal had a TV in his classroom. Yes, we got to watch the news and learned what current events were.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 30th, 2016 at 16:22
Video media intro a great leap for mankind.
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clinock
May 19th, 2016 at 06:08
the TV in school maybe more significant than the flight…!
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Carl D'Agostino
May 19th, 2016 at 06:16
Yes, a big step into media incorporation in education.
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montgomerybeverly
May 18th, 2016 at 18:14
I enjoyed this article because in 1961, I was eleven years old and I so admired my teachers. Teachers were thought of very highly and it was my goal to become a teacher when I grew up. I am a teacher but not in the traditional sense. Mine’s are life lessons that I have gained along the way and the reason why I wrote, “Imperfect People Managing in an Imperfect World.” Thank You for taking me back to a simpler time when teachers were shown great respect from students and others in the communities and schools where they taught. It was unlike the combat zone that so many teachers are confronted with on a daily basis in today’s world.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 18th, 2016 at 18:18
I was high school teacher 33 years inner city Miami, Florida. I think my generation did very well with books and pencils and paper – our tech back then.
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Debra
May 16th, 2016 at 23:36
How exciting it must have been to have that television opportunity at such a key point! I remember lots of conversation, but there wasn’t any classroom “participation” and that now, looking back, seems like a lost teaching opportunity!
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Carl D'Agostino
May 17th, 2016 at 12:50
Years later the only tech I had as a teacher for kids was a book and a blackboard.
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Ankur Mithal
May 15th, 2016 at 03:27
Goosebump events. Admire the commitment of your teacher in ensuring her class gets involved. Pity we haven’t found an alien yet 🙂
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Carl D'Agostino
May 15th, 2016 at 07:08
Oh the are more than 15 million of them living in USA bankrupting social services, schools and medical facilities.
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Grumpa Joe
May 14th, 2016 at 16:54
I can’t believe it has been that many years. I remember watching all of it, but not in school. By then I was a working man and had to wait for the evening news broadcasts.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 17:08
Seems like you gotta few years on me !
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jrj1701
May 14th, 2016 at 16:53
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 17:09
Oh WOW. Please keep supporting the blog this way !
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jrj1701
May 14th, 2016 at 18:36
I will as I am am able.
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Darlene
May 14th, 2016 at 12:55
I remember this event as well. It was exciting and scary at the same time. Straight out of a science fiction novel. Things certainly changed from post war to space age.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 14:44
Yes it is exciting these days. But I’ve already been to Mars. I was born there.
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weisserwatercolours
May 14th, 2016 at 10:02
….and I recall the teacher hauling in the school’s mobile TV the next year in October so we could watch the confrontation between Khrushchev and Kennedy off the coast of Cuba. My friends and I began trying to dig and build our own bomb shelter in the woods. Sending a couple of men into space wasn’t exactly the purpose of these rockets we came to understand, and when old enough, I moved to Canada. Interesting times. The space launch was fascinating and I thank you for the memory.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 11:13
Oh, in Miami, Florida with Cuba 90 miles away we were crapping in our pants during the Cuban Missile Crises. I watched the big bombs being loaded on the planes, the railway flat cars were packed with military vehicles, planes flying over, and practicing getting under our desks and away from windows at school(like that would make any difference). Then the Bay of Pigs fiasco which Kennedy did not back it up because, I think, the CIA initiated it without his approval. Contractors made millions building underground bomb shelters (like that would make a difference as the radiation and dust would enter the air vents). People stocked up on canned goods for years. A huge air raid siren that could be heard from over 50 mile radius blasted every Saturday test at 1 PM for two decades. Refugees and then first , second and third generations(at least a million now ) of Cubans make up at least 50% or more of Miami Dade County today.
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Sheila Moss
May 14th, 2016 at 09:47
Space travel was a serious thing. Remember “Godspeed John Glenn”? Then we became so complacent about it that 25 years later we were sending a school teacher to space, where Christa McAliffe died when the Challenge exploded. Really like those photos of the old newspapers. I think the thing that changed people’s lives most was something else, though — three little letters, www.
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 11:22
John Glenn really enchanted the nation. The Challenger explosion really traumatized the nation. In his eulogy, I remember, President Reagan said they “touched the face of God”. About 7 years ago when my granddaughter (third grade)did her African America History project we chose Ronald T. McNair who went down with the Challenger. We took 3rd Place in the entire school ! A memory we both cherish today. I am glad I am 66 and experienced all the amazing things in my lifetime. I appreciate most the invention of the bachelor saver micro wave oven. Young people today have no sense of history.
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Sheila Moss
May 14th, 2016 at 13:24
Our generation has seen some amazing pages written in the history book, that’s for sure. Glenn believed in God and said the things he saw from space were too amazing to have occurred from happenstance.
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Theanne aka magnoliamoonpie
May 14th, 2016 at 09:14
Lucky you Carl to have a teacher who did this for her class…thanks for sharing 🙂
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Carl D'Agostino
May 14th, 2016 at 09:23
I was so thrilled. Maybe that’s why I wound up as a history teacher for 33 years in Miami.
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Theanne aka magnoliamoonpie
May 14th, 2016 at 09:31
🙂
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