Old School

The protagonist of Tobias Wolff’s shrewdly—and at times devastatingly—observed first novel is a boy at an elite prep school in 1960. He is an outsider who has learned to mimic the negligent manner of his more privileged classmates. Like many of them, he wants more than anything on earth to become a writer. But to do that he must first learn to tell the truth about himself. The agency of revelation is the school literary contest, whose winner will be awarded an audience with the most legendary writer of his time. As the fever of competition infects the boy and his classmates, fraying alliances, exposing weaknesses, Old School explores the ensuing deceptions and betrayals with an unblinking eye and a bottomless store of empathy. The result is further evidence that Wolff is an authentic American master.

It's 1960, in America, at a prestigious boys' public school, a place of privilege that places great emphasis on its democratic ideals. A teenage boy in his final year, on a scholarship, has learned to fit in with his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself and his background. Class is ever present, but the only acknowledged snobbery is a literary snobbery. These boys' heroes are writers - Fitzgerald, Cummings, Kerouac. They want to be writers themselves, and the school has a tradition whereby once a term big names from the literary world are invited to visit. A contest takes place with the boys admitting a piece of writing and the winner having a private audience with the visitor. When it is announced that Hemingway will be the next to come to the school, competition among the boys is intense, and the morals the school and the boys hold dear - honour, loyalty and friendship - are tested. No one writes more astutely than Wolff about the process by which character is formed, and here he illuminates the irresistible strength, even the violence, of the self-creative urge. This is a novel that, in its power and its beauty, in its precision and its humanity, is at once contemporary and timeless.

O is for Old School takes you on an alphabetical journey through the most iconic words and phrases in hip-hop. You'll soon learn that for new parents these words have new meanings: now Peace comes at naptime, a Hood is worn on a head and when they Flow it’s going to get wet. This book is your chance to become the freshest parent in your playgroup; while your lil' one learns their ABCs like a G.

Old School Photography is a must-have modern manual for learning how to create great photographs with a 35mm film camera. Famed YouTube personality Kai Wong expertly and humorously shares 100 essential tips for selecting and using film cameras, shooting with film and various lenses, and employing specific techniques to ensure you can get great results quickly. Known for his breadth of knowledge and quick wit, Kai Wong delivers an informative and entertaining read on how to take great film photos. • An informative and entertaining read on how to take great film photos • A must-have guide for those new to old-school film techniques • A much-needed book for the current resurgence of vintage 35mm film cameras Renewed interest in film photography has surged in the past few years, both among those rediscovering their past passion and those discovering it for the first time. Vintage cameras that had previously lost their value are now often worth more than they first sold for due to high demand amongst enthusiasts, students, and collectors. Film manufacturers have even started reissuing long discontinued stocks—for example, Kodak's much-loved and recently re-released classic Ektachrome slide film. In our modern world, billions of people have access to instantaneous photography on their mobile phones, but as a result there has been a resurgent desire for a more tactile, physical, unaltered, and thus honest medium. Much of which, ironically, ends up on the internet, with photography fans and influencers sharing their images across Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, and the like. More so than with digital photography, film photography requires a sense of craft, skill, patience, technical knowledge, and a trial-and-error process that results in a greater sense of accomplishment. Old School Photography is both enlightening and humorous, and attracts a new generation of fans who are eager to experiment with film cameras, make prints, and post their film photographs online.

Old School is in session.... You have probably heard the term Old School, but what you might not know is that there is a concentrated effort to tear that school down. It’s a values thing. The anti–Old School forces believe the traditional way of looking at life is oppressive. Not inclusive. The Old School way may harbor microaggressions. Therefore, Old School philosophy must be diminished. Those crusading against Old School now have a name: Snowflakes. You may have seen them on cable TV whining about social injustice and income inequality. You may have heard them cheering Bernie Sanders as he suggested the government pay for almost everything. The Snowflake movement is proud and loud, and they don’t like Old School grads. So where are you in all this? Did you get up this morning knowing there are mountains to climb—and deciding how you are going to climb them? Do you show up on time? Do you still bend over to pick up a penny? If so, you’re Old School. Or did you wake up whining about safe spaces and trigger warnings? Do you feel marginalized by your college’s mascot? Do you look for something to get outraged about, every single day, so you can fire off a tweet defending your exquisitely precious sensibilities? Then you’re a Snowflake. So again, are you drifting frozen precipitation? Or do you matriculate at the Old School fountain of wisdom? This book will explain the looming confrontation so even the ladies on The View can understand it. Time to take a stand. Old School or Snowflake. Which will it be?

Old-school medicine and homeopathy. A Reprint from the North American Review, June, 1882.

Can public schools in America be saved? This book considers theory, current practice, and the common school ideal through a historical lens to arrive at practical suggestions for reforming contemporary public education. Despite dramatic, sweeping changes in recent decades, a strong case can be made for guiding the reformation of contemporary public education in the United States on common school ideology of the nineteenth century. The author argues that the common school remains a public institution capable of preparing America's youth to contribute to the community in a positive manner, and that education must be treated at a public good where all children—regardless of social class—have a right to a quality education. The work includes a thorough overview of Horace Mann's writings on K–12 public education that support the common school ideal—concepts that are over 150 years old, yet still highly relevant today.