Photo: Gourmet
Fall is officially upon us, bringing hearty harvests, cool-weather clothes, and anxious children meeting new teachers for the first time. Did you send your little one off with an apple in tow?
Probably not. The truth is, packing a shiny, red apple in your kid’s backpack as a token of gratitude is something we see in the movies but would never think to do in real life. Clichéd as it may be, however, the apple as a symbol of learning endures. Why?
The apple has been associated with education for centuries, thanks to the story of our curious friends Adam and Eve. The Tree of Knowledge’s frequent depiction as an apple tree was not lost on religious disciples who began to consider the fruit a powerful symbol of information.
Fast forward to 1700. Poor farming families in Denmark and Sweden, unable to pay for their children’s education, gave teachers baskets of apples in lieu of payment. Because the fruit spoils quickly, the families scaled back their gifting over time to a sole apple.
The practice spread to the Southern US and took hold in the 1920s as the Depression struck. Farmers’ kids gave apples, the most abundant crop at the time, to struggling teachers to help keep them satiated, teaching, and hopefully dolling out A’s. As the saying goes, “An apple for the teacher will always do the trick when you don’t know your lesson in arithmetic.”
Over time, the phrase “apple polisher” was coined to signify a brown-noser, which likely led to a decline in the tradition’s popularity. Regardless, the apple remains emblematic of teachers–and a delicious herald of fall.
