SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Children around the country head back to school soon. And if they're smart, they'll avoid the many publications of A.J. Jacobs, the writer and Esquire magazine editor who regularly joins us to share facts that he's just learned through one unverifiable source or another. A.J. joins us from New York. A.J., thanks so much for being back with us.
A.J. JACOBS: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: Please tell us about Bronson Alcott, I understand your favorite teacher.
JACOBS: Well, certainly my kids' favorite teacher. He was the father of Louisa May Alcott, who wrote "Little Women," and he was a radical education reformer. And one of his big ideas is that kids should spank teachers instead of the other way around. So if a kid misbehaved, he would inflict the corporal punishment on the teacher. And the theory was that the student would be so ashamed, he'd never misbehave again. And as you might notice, it didn't catch on, much to the chagrin of millions of school kids everywhere.
SIMON: Well, you know, but teachers unions have become so unpopular these days, it might be coming back. The other end of the paddle, if you please, there's a man you call the LeBron James of school discipline.
JACOBS: Oh, yes, this guy was a German's headmaster named Johann Hauberle (ph). And back then - this was in the 19th century - corporal punishment was huge. Going to school was like going to Christian Grey's S&M dungeon. So this guy, over the course of his 50-year career, delivered 911,527 smacks with a rod. You do have to admire his statistics keeping, if not his sociopathic personality.
SIMON: Oh, mercy. And the British author Roald Dahl did quite an extraordinary job at his British boarding school.
JACOBS: Right, British boarding schools, the - the junior students were mightily abused. And one of the more G-rated examples of what Dahl had to deal was warm the bathroom toilet seat for the older boys. So every morning, he had to go out to the seat, in winter, and apparently, he was good at the job. He was told that he had a hot bottom, according to his memoirs. And - but he did put the time to...
SIMON: (Laughter) I had no idea we would run into so many editorial problems in a conversation about back to school. But go ahead, please.
JACOBS: But he put the time to good use. He read much of Charles Dickens' work while warming up the throne for the butts of his elders.
SIMON: And what - I've - what exactly was the Old Deluder of Satan Act?
JACOBS: Oh, yes. This was the first law requiring education in America. And I think it does have the coolest name of any law in history - the Old Deluder of Satan Act - 1647 in Massachusetts required that any town of more than 50 families had to hire a teacher. And the name comes from the first line of the law, which is the chief project of that old deluder Satan is to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures. So the devil hates reading. And as a writer, I approve of that message.
SIMON: And where's the idea of bringing an apple for the teacher come from?
JACOBS: Most likely, it comes from the fact that teachers used to be paid in barter by the families of the students. So there are records of kids bringing baskets of potatoes or apples. And somehow, the apples beat out the potatoes as a symbol of education. And there are actually - there are apple truthers who say that the apple industry was behind this because they were desperate to clean up their image because in early America, they had a bad reputation because apples were mostly used for hard cider.
SIMON: Did you have a favorite, or perhaps least-favorite teacher?
JACOBS: Well, I did. I had many great teachers - Mr. Bender (ph), my English teacher. My least-favorite teacher was probably my fourth-grade teacher, who made us have a sugar-free bake sale. And our class earned maybe $4.
SIMON: (Laughter).
JACOBS: It's sad - turns out kids like sugar.
SIMON: Oh, my. Can I mention one of my old English teachers? Oh, I had a lot of great teachers. Gene Reckitt (ph) wonderful English teacher at Senn High School, would say to me - I hope I never forget this - OK, that's all right, that's correct. Now let's make it interesting.
JACOBS: That's great. That's like an editor of mine who had said that's perfect - not for this book, but...
(LAUGHTER)
JACOBS: I thought that was good.
SIMON: A.J. Jacobs, editor-at-large for Esquire magazine. See you in detention, A.J.
JACOBS: (Laughter) Thanks Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.