The Teacher-Apple Dynamic

Hello Readers!

As you may already be able to tell by the Apple- covered backgrounds of my blog and my choice of blog topics, this is a teacher- related blog. I have used the Apple. a widely known symbol to represent teaching, in a variety of different places on this website. This has got me thinking, though, Where did the whole Teacher- Apple thing come from? I have associated the Apple with teaching for as long as I can remember, and have even seen it played out on cartoons and TV shows where a student gifts a teacher an apple and they keep it on their desk.




When did Apples start being associated with teaching?



My guess:

Before I look for an present the answers that I have found, I will write my one of my guesses as to why Apples have been associated with teaching, and we can see if I was close! 

Even though I am not a teacher yet, I have seen the color red being associated with those in the profession. For example, the initiative: "Red for Ed", I've heard about this through the National Educators Association, witch is the National chapter of the organization SVEA, Student Virginia Educator's Association, I am a part of. Red for Ed is about advocating for change improvements in schools across the country.

A video that describes "Red for Ed"

Although this program may be new, I still think that the color red was associated with it for a reason, and May be a part of why the Apple has been associated with teaching as well. 

 Answers

I had to do some research for this topic. As i was scouring the web looking for answers, I came across a couple different reasons behind Apples being a symbol of teaching.The following was collected by The Children's Museum ( https://www.childrensmuseum.org/blog/why-do-teachers-like-apples)

1. The apple was used as currency by poor families in Denmark to send their students to school. Families gave baskets of apples as payment!
2. In the United States, Apples may have been given to struggling teachers during the Great Depression. Also, families whose students attended schools were also responsible for feeding frontier teachers.

How interesting!

    On another website, Today I found Out:  they go into more detail about some of the reasons I mentioned before. It also talks about the Apple's place in the biblical story "Adam and Eve" in which the apple is grown on the Tree of Knowledge. I can see how this take can translate into the teaching profession, as well. Additionally, there is also a widely-thought rumor that  the Apple was given to teachers after they began to be seen as a symbol for being healthy, after the phrase "An apple a day keeps the Doctor away" - so, parents sent their students to school with an apple to get on the teacher's good side!

    These are just a couple of theories I have found, and I am sure their are many more to add! Being that this is such a well-known symbol, I'm sure these theories date hundreds of years back into history and perhaps even vary from state to state, or country to country!

When was the first time you remember seeing the Apple as a symbol for teaching? Do you have any theories to add? 
Thanks for reading!
From my Desktop,
Kanya
🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎

References:

“Blog.” Why Do Teachers Like Apples? | The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, www.childrensmuseum.org/blog/why-do-teachers-like-apples.

Stone, Sarah. “Why Teachers Are Associated with and Traditionally Given Apples.” Today I Found Out, 22 July 2014, www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/07/teachers-associated-traditionally-given-apples/.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Representation Matters.

Hello Readers! In the past couple of weeks, in addition to being amidst a pandemic, the world has also been amidst a revolution . Protests around the world have called for change after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd at the hands of the police. I have only seen things like this in the movies; Thousands of people gathering to protest, blocking traffic, risking their freedom for the justice of others. They have encouraged lots of change, too-  Laws have been passed to ban no-knock warrants (you can read about this here, an article about banning no knock warrants ) , confederate statues are being removed, Minnesota even has plans to reform their WHOLE police department (an article on that  here, an article about Minnesota police reform  ) .  With all this being said, I want to connect the current civil rights movement (it is a movement- every continent has held protests for Black Lives Matter) to something I am passionate about, ...
Read more

Welcome to Desktop Diaries!

     Hello Readers!   WELCOME to my Blog, DESKTOP DIARIES !  Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Kanya Edmonds and I am from Virginia Beach, VA. I was born and raised here, and I love living in the "country" here in VA , as my family members in Washington D.C.  may refer to it, much to the opposition of myself and I'm sure other Virginians, although... they may have a point. Currently, I attend Old Dominion University, and have just finished my first ever year in college this past month. I am double majoring in English and Spanish with a concentration in teacher preparation. You may be wondering: "Why, Kanya , are you majoring in two different language fields?" The answer is because I want to become an English teacher, specifically, an ESL teacher. I will go into more detail about that later. For now, though, I want to talk about this blog and why it exists! Why "Desktop Diaries" was created     I created this blog as an assignment f...
Read more