ANST - Request for assistance in Austin

Joel Schumacher jschumac at jcpenney.com
Wed Mar 3 14:48:38 PST 1999


> Amanda Grayson wrote:
> Greetings Good Gentles!
> May I make so bold as to ask a favor for a non-SCAdian
> friend who is a school teacher in the Austin, Texas area. 
> Her school is putting together a medieval unit for the
> children.  To liven things up a bit I suggested she try to
> get some fighters to come to her school.

I did this same type of thing for a grade school class that
was also doing a medieval unit.  It was a lot of fun and the
kids really loved it.  But, I couldn't help feeling it was a
bit misleading for the kids.

Well, this is the type of armor they used..., sort of.  Well,
all but the wealthiest could afford the simple armor we have.
And most armor didn't look like this.  And these are the
practice swords we use.  And other little things.

I know fighting is the big entertainment thing and I'm sure
it gets the kids all excited.  But it's also meant to be a
learning experience and these visual demos are going to stick
in their minds better than anything they read in a book.

I would suggest anyone doing this wear as close to period garb/
armor, as possible, not just the SCA-approved stuff.  Or if you
have some pieces you can demo that you maybe can't safely wear to
fight, bring those to show.

I know fighting is exciting, but it always seems to be the SCA
mentality to demo fighting.  It's probably good if you're trying
to catch somebody's eye and recruit members.  But if you've already
got an audience and they are supposed to learn something, why not
teach them something rather than entertain them?

We have plenty of artists out there.  Why not have our artists or
storytellers come in garb and teach them something about the period?
I'm sure we have some very cabable artists and craftspeople who could
show how something was made, why they did it that way, maybe give
some background on how the materials were obtained, etc.  Maybe even
give the kids some hands-on things to do.  Maybe somebody could do
storytelling (stories that teach as well as entertain, that is).

These things seem to be a more valuable learning experience about
the lives of people in period than a bunch of people swinging sticks
at each other.  And maybe even something they can go home and try
without hurting anyone.

I hope this teacher is open to other possibilities.

-Karl von Augsburg
__________________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                        JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com          12700 Park Central Pl
(972) 591-7543                         Dallas TX  75251
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