Frazz by Jef Mallett follows the adventures of an unexpected role model: an elementary-school janitor who's also a Renaissance man. While he's sweeping the hall, he's whistling Beethoven. Or Lyle Lovett. He paints the woodwork in the classrooms; he paints a Da Vinci on the cafeteria wall. He's a trusted authority figure who is every kid's buddy. He took the janitor's job while he was a struggling songwriter, and when he finally sold a hit song, he decided to stay on at school. Frazz appears in 200 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and Detroit News. "A few years back, I wrote and illustrated a children's book," says Mallett. "When I was traveling around reading it at school assemblies, I noticed that often, the most respected, best-liked grown-up in the building was the janitor. And I thought, 'Hmm, there's a comic strip in that.'" Often praised for its intelligent wit, gentle spirit and effortless diversity, Frazz won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2003 and 2005 for excellence in communicating values and ethics.
© Jef Mallett - All Rights Reserved.
Frank & Ernest by Thaves
Fred Basset by Alex Graham
Comments (23) (Please sign in to comment)
Nabuquduriuzhur said, 8 months ago
Don’t forget the explosion in “make work” that has happened in the last 20 years. For all of the extra garbage that the teachers send home for kids to plow through, why don’t they learn as much as we did, just a generation before?
madmonk73 said, 8 months ago
The government wasn’t as deeply involved in the schools. The average teacher puts in 70 hours a week with just the paper work.
Varnes said, 8 months ago
When I was his age, Friday night and Saturday were nothing but play. Sunday was the day of homework. Gotta do the homework then…..Besides, Sunday’s already ruined by the fact you have to go to school the next day….The Sunday evening blues…Thank God for the Simpsons…. The tic ttic tic of 60 Minutes bugged the hell out of me…
bagbalm said, 8 months ago
True story – I refused to do any homework the last two years of high school. They hated my guts as they do anyone they can’t indoctrinate to obedience. Control bullies? Schools are the ultimate bullies.
Lee-Anne Griffin said, 8 months ago
@bagbalm
Yes…such bullies when you are in your late teens and they want you to learn things. Giving you homework and teaching you how to study is not bullying. It is an indoctrination of obedience but, rather, a nice life lesson on what college is like and the need to study and learn. Schools are anything but control bullies. Discipline in life is needed. In fact, I would say the lack of discipline these days is half the problem with the schools. They need to enforce more of it.
bpullin said, 8 months ago
Public Schools = Modern Indoctrination Camps
puddleglum1066 said, 8 months ago
Elementary school has study halls? When did that start? My recollection of elementary was that the whole day was divided up into classes—English, math, science, reading (why this was separate from English I don’t know, but it was), music, art, etc., and each class included some time to work on the assignments. Anything unfinished in class became homework. I don’t recall stand-alone study halls till at least seventh grade. Have things changed?
Tacopielvr said, 8 months ago
@Nabuquduriuzhur
Please provide references and sources to back that. IMHO you’re very wrong.
Alexikakos said, 8 months ago
@bagbalm
With an attitude like that I’m guessing that you need (metaphorically at least) a lot of your avatar.
The Wolf In Your Midst said, 8 months ago
@Nabuquduriuzhur
Rising class sizes, lowering school budgets, an increase in families with two working parents, societal mores discouraging learning and intelligence, technology allowing for easier methods of distraction, greater reliance on “teaching to the test”….
Oh, was I supposed to say “kids are just stupid and lazy these days”? When hasn’t that been the case?
The Wolf In Your Midst said, 8 months ago
Man, I wish MY school had had a pool.
ealeseth said, 8 months ago
@puddleglum1066 English includes the grammar, writing, spelling, parts of what is often refered to as Language Arts. The same content would be part of learning French, Japanese, Norwegian, etc. Reading is exactly that. It would include both the skills (and where I taught) time to read for enjoyment. Many of our students didn’t have a place to read at home – too many people in too little space due to high rents.
Redkaycei Repoc said, 8 months ago
@bpullin
private schools = ideology brainwashing for what ever faction supports them usually but not always the right
Solange said, 8 months ago
@Lee-Anne Griffin
While I don’t disagree that discipline isn’t an issue (yes yes double negative. OK triple :) ), in the past it was taken too far. We need to find a grey area there. A large part of problem is is the general bad attitude towards education (just read a comics about kids attitude towards school). Try living somewhere where school is seen as a privilege and you are lucky that you have homework, such as in Africa. At least when I was a kid there, people had a very different attitude towards education (OK, yes, and discipline too ;b)
comicsssfan said, 8 months ago
@bagbalm
You would have loved the public school I went to. There was no homework! The “tests” were easy peasy. That was because sports was the main goal. You could just nap on your desk or occasionally a student would nap on the floor next to his desk.