Study Egypt From Beyond the Textbook

Originally published July 2, 2009 | SF Examiner| by Ken Garcia

If it’s good to be king, this year will also be a great time to be a sixth-grader.

As part of its really big show featuring the most popular exhibit in its history, de Young Museum officials are offering special group tickets to San Francisco public school students whose curriculum includes the study of ancient Egypt.

And seeing ancient Egypt up close and personal is a lot more exciting than opening a book, which is why museum officials expect close to 25,000 students to visit the exhibit this fall, when the discount tickets are offered.

The tickets are courtesy of program underwriter Wells Fargo Bank, which, in this era of corporate branding, is sponsoring “Tut School Mondays.” That’s one way to make sure the kids are not forced to stand in long lines, as their parents did when the Boy King made his first appearance in San Francisco 30 years ago.

Whether it turns out to be the beginning of a “lifelong love” of ancient history, as museum officials hope, remains to be seen. But school groups who score the tickets by going to www.tut-sanfrancisco.org will immediately learn one thing: Tut has sure aged better than the rest of us.