If someone gives you the clues of “Roe v. Wade, Jonestown, Evel Knievel,” would you know which decade they were talking about?
While remembering the 1970s isn’t a stretch for anyone age 55 or older, members of the Class of 2018 — and probably some of their parents — weren’t even born yet. A creative way of teaching students about influential decades of the recent past, which is now in its 16th or 17th year (no one is sure which), is the Malibu High School tradition of “Decade Day.” This year, students investigated the 1970s, with topics covering everything from big news items to sports, the arts, technology and inventions, and popular culture, and how those influences still affect people today.
Decade Day is a joint project of the history and English departments, and every member of the junior class participates. Each student chooses a particular topic from a long list (using a lottery system to see who picks first), and is given about three months to design and construct a three-sided visual display about their topic (a triptych), create or purchase a show-and-tell display item (which they refer to as an “artifact”), and prepare a one-minute presentation.
Longtime teacher Andy Meyer, who teaches courses in psychology, sociology, U.S. history, economics and government, was the original founder of “Decade Day” and still organizes it each year. He explained that he tends to rotate four particular decades — the 20s, 50s, 60s and 70s, because each of those decades has such a distinctive feel.
When asked what the students get out of it, he said, “They become an expert in a subject and develop a passion for it.”
In addition to being graded on the display items and verbal presentation, Mr. Meyer says he “gives extra credit for dressing up” in a costume or clothing related to the topic, and each student also turns in a four- to seven-page paper on their topic.
The end result of all that work was shown last Friday morning, when all of the juniors displayed their projects for over two hours in the old gym. Parents and community members were encouraged to “attend, walk around and engage students in a discussion about their projects,” according to the school’s website. Anyone engaging with a student was then asked to rate that student’s display, artifact and presentation as outstanding, satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
A very random sampling of some of the 150 student displays was taken:
Wendy Chachagua’s topic was “Mary Tyler Moore.” In her presentation, she explained why Moore’s role on the Mary Tyler Moore Show was so important. “She played a single working woman,” which was unusual for the time. Then, when Mary found out a male co-worker was getting paid more, she discussed the issue with her boss and got a raise. “She inspired the women’s rights movement and pursued a career,” Chachagua said.
The founding of Microsoft by Bill Gates was tackled by junior Axel Romero, who explained the development of the Altair 8800 microcomputer, and the fact that Gates was shrewd enough to copyright his source code.
Student Ryan Janov’s display was on the founding of Apple Computer by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He said they only sold 25 of the first Apple computer, which had a price tag of $666. Janov related how succeeding generations of Apple were technologically ahead of their time, including the Apple II, followed by Mac.
Photographer Annie Leibovitz was junior Luca Damian’s topic, who explained she took her first cover photo for Rolling Stone in 1970 and went on to develop her own iconic style of photography. He pointed out that Leibovitz is still going strong today, noting the famous 2015 Vanity Fair cover photo of Caitlin Jenner, which was displayed in his booth.
Student David Monte de Oca chose farmworker organizer Caesar Chavez and created a very detailed display of farmworkers picking produce in a field as his artifact. He explained details of Chavez’s biography, his founding of the UFW (United Farmworkers), and the series of boycotts and strikes he instigated.
Gaia Hinds chose the serious topic of the Munich Olympic Games Massacre in 1972. She said she picked that topic because the incident “involved the whole world and the relationships between all of the countries.”
Junior Josie Bassett, who wants to be a music supervisor for film, chose director Martin Scorsese as her topic.
“‘The Departed’ is one of my favorite films,” she said. “He’s made so many great classics.”
