Pontiac Township High School freshman Cameron Brown didn’t eat
breakfast Thursday morning. His skipped meal was in anticipation
of the high school’s modern world history class trip to Lydia’s
Cup cafe that morning. Student teacher Patrick Potter and
teacher Zack Treadway came up with the trip as a means to
recreate the environment of an 18th Century café in Paris with
the goal of not only fulfilling values the high school
encourages, but also providing a neutral atmosphere for
philosophical debate. Three different classes of history
students took trips to Lydia’s Cup between Wednesday and
Thursday. On both days, a morning class was in the café and on
Wednesday only, an afternoon class visited. The procedure for
each class was generally the same. Students sat down to get
comfortable and table-by-table, they were given a chance to go
to the counter and order a drink and snack at a discounted
price. While one table was ordering, other students began their
philosophical discussion on everything from nature versus