Things sure have changed since I was in school. When I was in school:
1. We went back to school after Labor Day. Now, all the schools around me are starting in August. Many kids here are going back next week!
2. There was no air conditioning in schools back then. Some days must have been hot, even in September. But I don't remember being uncomfortable because of the heat. I do remember the windows being open, and everyone wanted the seats closest to the windows.
3. No one was allowed to wear shorts. Girls weren't even allowed to wear pants! Skirts or dresses only. (No jeans for anyone.) When I think about choosing my clothes for the first day, I remember plaid skirts and knee socks. Now it's shorts and sandals.
4. My sister and I walked a mile to school in first and second grade... by ourselves. Imagine little girls walking alone on city streets today. The thought makes me shudder.
5. We didn't get supply lists from our teachers. We went to school with pencils. They supplied the paper, crayons, rulers, etc. Later on, we were required to bring protractors.
6. We didn't have backpacks. I really don't remember what we carried our pencils in. I guess we left them in our desks after the first day of school. In high school we carried armloads of books home. (See "Back to the Future") If we had a boyfriend, he might carry our books for us.
7. No computers, flash drives, laptops or phones. The first day I picked up my nieces from school, I asked them what those things were hanging on a cord around their necks... a flashdrive, of course! They take their homework on a flash drive to transfer their work from their school computer to their home computer.
It's a different world!
All those supplies we have to provide... I wonder: were schools better off when our taxes and their budgets accounted for the needs of students, or is this *pay as you go* method okay? I know that schools in our district are as good as the parents make it. The quality of the science, art, music and PE programs depends on the financial backing and volunteerism of the parents. I fear our society is going to be paying a huge toll... perhaps we already are?
ReplyDeleteNo flash drive when i was in school, either! No internet, even, until i was in college. BUT we do start in September. Eric's first day of preschool is September 7.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, I wish I knew how schools afforded all the supplies then. It was just taken for granted, I guess.
ReplyDeleteBearette, I hope Eric likes preschool. I cried my first day there and they sent me to a "cry room" by myself. Another little girl came in to comfort me and she was my friend all through high school!
I'm glad the little girl came to comfort you! A solitary cry room sounds pretty awful.
ReplyDeleteI was little during the "dark ages".
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