August 24, is one of those days, when the world changes, quietly. 

In 1789, the French Assembly, proclaimed freedom of speech on August 24th.  And three days later on August 27th, the Assembly, finally accepted, the Lafayette version of the Rights of Man and Citizens.  

In 1985, Gorbachev, began the process of recognizing the market as a civilisational entity. A shift from the Soviet understanding of the market as an invention of capitalism. On August 24, 1991, Gorbachev, after surviving a failed coup and spending two days under house arrest, resigned as General Secretary of the Party, and by the end of the year the USSR ceased to exist. 

For teachers the vanguard of the education process, teaching from pages that were different from the world changing was a challenge, then as it is now.