Mr Spencer example essay topic
396 words
Benjamin Banneker Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, in Ellicott's Mills. He was the son of a slave, however, Banneker was a freeman. Banneker's grandmother, Molly Walsh, was an English immigrant and an indentured servant who married an African slave named Banna Ka. That name was later changed to Bannaky. Walsh, after serving her seven years as an indentured servant, bought a small farm, where Banna Ka was a slave. Her daughter (born free) also married a slave. At that time, the law dictated that if your mother was a slave, then you were a slave and if she was a free women then you were not a slave. Banneker was educated by Quakers and quickly revealed to the world his inventive nature. Benjamin Banneker first achieved national acclaim for his scientific work in the 1791 survey of the Federal Territory (now Washington, D.C. ). In 1753, he built the first watch made in America, a wooden pocket watch.
Twenty years later, Banneker began making astronomical calculations that enabled him to successfully forecast a 1789 solar eclipse. His estimate made well in advance of the celestial event, contradicted predictions of better-known mathematicians and astronomers. Mr Spencer, Holden's history teacher, has a bad cold, and is sitting in his bedroom in a bathrobe. Wich disgusts Holden.
Mr. Spencer gets mad at Holden for getting kicked out of school and what his future now holds. Holden has little need for Spencer's lecture, but he doesn't want to hurt his teacher's feelings. Still, Holden listens as Spencer tries to thrust the gravity of the situation on Holden by calling him "boy" and reading aloud Holden's response to his history exam, a two-paragraph essay on the ancient Egyptians. The response is so bad that Holden even added an apology note at the end of the essay. Holden's troubles are beginning to sound a little more complicated, too -- this is the fourth school, he tells Mr. Spencer, that he's been kicked out of, and the world seems to him distressingly full of "phonies".
He knows he's beyond Mr. Spencer's help and tells him not to worry". 'I'm just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don't they?'.
