Elementary math textbooks of the 1960s always began with a discussion of sets. To this day, I cannot figure out the logic that caused those post-Sputnik reformers to think that asking kids to identify the name for a set of geese or goldfish or giraffes (i.e., gaggle, school and herd) was a valuable way to enter mathematics each autumn. Yet it was so common that I recall opening the math book (maybe in fifth grade) and groaning that there was that exercise again: "A set of crows is called a ___ ." Maybe set theory was a wonderful unifying principle. Perhaps linking it to literary flourishes was viewed as clever. At least I can attest that it was memorable.
The ways we might describe a set of people reflects our regard for them. A posse or syndicate suggests an organization that is more threatening (but more purposeful) then an association or delegation. Congregations and flocks are contemplative while teams and crowds are rowdy. I suppose the way we label a group of people is further evidence that we are social beings.
At the inaugural assemblage of education professors, each department chair had been asked to offer quick summaries of the activities of their respective faculty over the summer. Grants, workshops, and so on. Some lists seemed to promote the bigger names in our small pond. Other reports seem to have been excerpted from monthly grant budget reports. One report confirmed for me that my mind inhabits a very different universe. It was reported that "a gang of Hartford teachers" had been to campus. Not a team or collection or even a group. A gang.
The ways we might describe a set of people reflects our regard for them. A posse or syndicate suggests an organization that is more threatening (but more purposeful) then an association or delegation. Congregations and flocks are contemplative while teams and crowds are rowdy. I suppose the way we label a group of people is further evidence that we are social beings.
At the inaugural assemblage of education professors, each department chair had been asked to offer quick summaries of the activities of their respective faculty over the summer. Grants, workshops, and so on. Some lists seemed to promote the bigger names in our small pond. Other reports seem to have been excerpted from monthly grant budget reports. One report confirmed for me that my mind inhabits a very different universe. It was reported that "a gang of Hartford teachers" had been to campus. Not a team or collection or even a group. A gang.
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