 First edition | |
| Author | Daniel Pinkwater |
|---|---|
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Farrar Straus Giroux |
Publication date | 1998 |
| Pages | 167 pp. |
| ISBN | 9780374319694 |
The Education of Robert Nifkin is a 1998 novel written for young adults by United States author Daniel Pinkwater. [1] It is set during the 1950s in Chicago and is written in the format of a college application essay. It follows the unusual high school experience of the narrator, Robert Nifkin.
Robert attended Riverview High School, which was only notable for its anti-semitic attitudes, homophobia, boredom, and anti-communist paranoia. Robert has no interest in any of his classes except for ROTC, a class he is taking instead of PE. His boredom and hatred for school grows and he eventually stops attending for large periods of time, preferring to hang out with Kenny Papescu and his girlfriend Linda in a very beatnik part of town. On a day that he actually attends, he found out that his ROTC sergeant had been fired, on the grounds of being a Communist. Robert's truancy increased even more, except on the occasions that he sought shelter in Riverview from the Chicago winter.
Finally, the school ordered him to be transferred to a correctional school but upon the recommendation of Kenny Papescu, Robert convinced his parents to let him attend Wheaton, a private school. At Wheaton, truancy, when it is even noticed, goes unpunished. This is how, Robert learns, Kenny Papescu has not been to school in over two years. Robert ends up getting straight A's, some in courses he didn't know he was enrolled in. Robert matures greatly while attending the Wheaton school and learns to appreciate art, chess, and the city's architecture; the freedom that it provides allows him to explore his interests with the guidance of the teachers. Robert concluded his high school reflection with the hope that he be admitted to college.
Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorized, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absences, such as ones related to medical conditions. Truancy is usually explicitly defined in the school's handbook of policies and procedures. Attending school but not going to class is called internal truancy. Some children whose parents claim to homeschool have also been found truant in the United States.
Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, United States. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated one of Illinois' first black college graduates.
Robert Maynard Hutchins was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His first wife was the novelist Maude Hutchins. Although his father and grandfather were both Presbyterian ministers, Hutchins became one of the most influential members of the school of secular perennialism.
Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an American author of children's books and young adult fiction. His books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. He has also written an adult novel, The Afterlife Diet (1995), and essay collections derived from his talks on National Public Radio.
Back to School is a 1986 American comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Terry Farrell, William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison, Paxton Whitehead, Robert Downey Jr., M. Emmet Walsh, and Adrienne Barbeau. It was directed by Alan Metter. The plot centers on a wealthy but uneducated father (Dangerfield) who goes to college to show solidarity with his discouraged son Jason (Gordon) and learns that he cannot buy an education or happiness.
Robert Henry Winborne Welch Jr. was an American businessman, political organizer, and conspiracy theorist. He was wealthy following his retirement from the candy business and used his wealth to sponsor anti-communist causes. He co-founded the John Birch Society (JBS), an American right-wing political advocacy group, in 1958 and tightly controlled it until his death. He was highly controversial and criticized by liberals, as well as some conservatives, including William F. Buckley Jr. only after being an early donor to Buckley's National Review in the 1950s.
Wheaton North High School (WNHS), locally referred to as "North" is a public four-year high school in Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. It is one of two high schools that are part of Community Unit School District 200, the other being Wheaton Warrenville South High School.
Anti-schooling activism, or radical education reform, describes positions that are critical of school as a learning institution and/or compulsory schooling laws; or multiple attempts and approaches to fundamentally change the school system. People of this movement usually advocate alternatives to the traditional school system, education independent from school, the absence of the concept of schooling as a whole, or the right that people can choose how, where and with whom they are educated.
Terminal Velocity is a 1994 American action film directed by Deran Sarafian, written by David Twohy, and starring Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, James Gandolfini, and Christopher McDonald. It follows a daredevil skydiver (Sheen) who is caught up in a criminal plot by Russian mobsters, forcing him to team up with a freelance secret agent (Kinski) in order to survive. It was one of two skydiving-themed action films released in the fourth quarter of 1994, and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
Kenneth Tyron Wheaton is an American former professional football player who was a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at the University of Oregon.
Maurice Frank Kenny was an American poet who identified as Mohawk descent.
Jonathan Blanchard was an American pastor, educator, social reformer, and abolitionist. Born in Vermont, Blanchard attended Middlebury College before accepting a teaching position in New York. In 1834, he left to study at Andover Theological Seminary, but departed in 1836 after the college rejected agents from the American Anti-Slavery Society. Blanchard joined the group as one of Theodore Dwight Weld's "seventy" and preached in favor of abolition in southern Pennsylvania.
Wheaton Academy (WA) is a private, Christian, co-educational high school in West Chicago, Illinois, which was established as part of the Illinois Institute by a group of evangelical abolitionists in 1853. The Illinois Institute was reorganized into Wheaton College and Wheaton College Academy, a preparatory school, in 1860. Wheaton Academy established an independent campus in West Chicago in 1945.
There Goes My Baby is a 1994 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Floyd Mutrux and starring Dermot Mulroney, Rick Schroder, Noah Wyle, Lucy Deakins, and Kelli Williams.
Holyoke High School is a public high school in Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States. Since 2015, the school, along with the district, has been in state receivership and through a series of changes in practices, such as innovative restorative justice disciplinary programs, has seen marked improvement in student retention and graduation rates. In the 2017-2018 school year Holyoke High received higher combined SAT scores than the average for schools in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield.
Markus Levonte Wheaton is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oregon State Beavers and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft. He also played for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.
Bagboy is an American television special produced by Abso Lutely Productions for Adult Swim, and aired on February 21, 2015, to positive critical reception. Created and written by Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and John C. Reilly, the special is a fictional sitcom pilot in the universe of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, written by and starring Reilly's recurring Tim & Eric character Dr. Steve Brule. This is the second Tim & Eric spin-off to feature the Dr. Steve Brule character after Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.
A Sort of Life is the first volume of autobiography by British novelist Graham Greene, first published in 1971.
William Harding Johnson was an American educator who served as superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. His decade-long tenure as superintendent was controversial, and ended with him being pressured to resign after the National Education Association released a report which detailed corrupt and unethical actions by Johnson and the Chicago Board of Education, which resulted in the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools threatening to revoke its accreditation of Chicago Public Schools' high schools. Despite his controversy, he had a number of successes, such as being credited with decreased school truancy. He also introduced innovations to the school system, such as introducing an innovative remote education approach that utilized radio broadcasts amid school closures during a 1937 polio outbreak.
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