A similar sink or swim method was used on occasion in the land of the chalk dust. That “parade atmosphere” was particularly employed in low income areas.
And what a parade that first year was! In that coliseum portable with twenty-nine students, Grades Five and Six split, I was roman all over the place.
The students actually listened when we discussed the sink or swim form of justice in ancient Rome. An accused was tied up and attached to a heavy weight then thrown overboard a mile away from shore. If the accused, like Houdini, managed to float to the surface and swimmingly rejoice with a hail Caesar, he or she was judged as innocent.
In some respects I surfaced at the end of June, took a deep breath, hailed June and July, and paddled slowly away to find my sea legs again.
EXCERPTED FROM DAN'S BOOK, EDGE-U-CATION, available HERE.