Heading Back To School...

For most all children and teens, it's THAT time of year again...time to get back to those institutions of learning and begin hitting the books.
For most PARENTS, it's time to breathe that collective sigh of RELIEF!

With almost all schools starting their sessions (with FWCS starting this coming Monday), it will (as always) be fun to watch what the kids have learned (or UNlearned) over the summer, and what changes the kids will bring to school with them. The latest fad, the newest gizmos, and whatever other bad traits they have accumulated over the summer break will no doubt manifest themselves as they have for all these many years.

I asked my wife what day do the kids get their student handbooks, and she said the FIRST day back. So if I know my students correctly, that will mean that they "might" know what the rules are by...say the middle of NOVEMBER? That also means that during the first few months of class, these kids will not HAVE any..."class", that is, as in manners, respect...well, you get the idea. I suppose that MAYBE going over LAST YEAR'S handbook wasn't on the "summer reading list", not that many of these kids even BOTHERED to pick up a book (except to throw it at a sibling in anger).

Time was, when WE went back to school, we were TOLD what was accepted...and what was not. None of this "handbook" stuff. They told, you listened, you learned...end of subject. And those not listening or learning found out REAL fast what the rules were. Basically, the rules were pretty much the same every year.
You wanted to know where a bathroom was? You ASKED.
Where's your locker? You ASKED.
How do you find the band room or the drama club? You ASKED.

We were a lot more personable I suppose back then. Oh, but this was in a time when we actively practiced a modicum of self-control...and respect...and personal responsibility...and tolerance...and civility...and morality. We were also instructed to ask questions, because that's how we LEARNED things.
Wonder whatever happened to those things in today's school system?

As for dress codes?
We had them.
NO t-shirts (that as for GYM class), NO sneakers (ditto for gym), NO sandals, NO jeans (that was considered "casual" wear), because our schools were looked upon as being a "formal place" for learning, and that meant NOT looking like a damn SLOB! You had to make it at school to make it in on the "outside". We didn't have uniforms (that was reserved for Parochial schools, at which the sexes were segregated into all boy or all girl high schools). Shirt tails were to be tucked in. Dresses were to be modest in length with no "culottes", no bare midriffs, and no "provocative" attire (by either sex).

And you know what?
That system worked...and pretty damn well, too.
Today, the educational system is grasping at straws TRYING to find another way to make what worked for us work once again (pssst...go back to the basics, people).

We still had a fight now and then, but it started with fists...and ENDED with fists. Some football coach/teacher would grab both boys by the neck, drag 'em down to the gym, lace 'em into some BOXING GLOVES, and let 'em both duke it out. Then, the two combatants would shake hands (after a few rounds of sweaty, tiresome pugilism).

We carried compasses with sharp points, and we rarely had any stabbings (most were carelessness and not antagonistic in nature, requiring little else than a band-aid). Such cannot be said today. We have metal detectors to keep GUNS from getting into schools, as well as knives. I did have one (throwing) knife taken from me, but it was because I tossed it the length of a classroom (way before class) to show how well balanced it was. The teacher came in JUST as the point stuck into the back cork board. Sweet! "You'll get this back at the end of the term", was the teacher's terse statement. I was so embarrassed by that...I never went back to claim it.

Teachers were GODS...we respected them, admired them, and in the worst case, tolerated them...because after all was said and done, THEY knew what we needed a lot better than WE ever did, mainly an EDUCATION. And nothing stopped them in their relentless pursuit of that.

Be nice to be able to make the same claims TODAY...wouldn't it?