Remember these words?
School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick
When is the last time you saw hick’ry stick being used on a misbehaving student?
As it happens, the substitute for being punished in school uses various means — one of which is to burden students with excessive homework. I have several grandchildren, two of them preteen, who constantly are trying to catch up with the huge amount of homework assigned to them.
In my many visits to classrooms and various schools in our area as well as time spent speaking with teachers, faculty, and teaching staff, I hear complaints on a regular basis. Apparently the teachers have to be more concerned with having the students pass the many standardized tests they are required to take and this of course entails more homework.
I was at a meeting very recently where a bunch of Boy Scouts came to watch my education committee for our town operate. I couldn’t resist asking them about their feelings regarding homework. I got the same answer from them that I seem to be getting from everyone and that is that they end up spending many hours. especially in the evening. to complete their homework assignments. The results of this, of course, is a bunch of sleepy children that had been up all my trying to catch up with something that really should be taking place in the classroom. My opinion!
Things have changed dramatically since I was a student in public school, when the hick’ry stick was still in use or a roller used as a substitute to rap you across the knuckles. We paid attention in school back then and completed an hour or so of homework each night rather than the several hours that even elementary school students are faced with today.
I have spoken to school principals, school board members, many teachers, and many parents, all of whom agree with my analysis, but I’m helpless to do anything about it because the rules and regulations covering this come out of Tallahassee from some people that I frankly have never met.
I usually begin my talk regarding my latest book, When I Was Your Age, with the statement that I never had a play-date. Of course the kids look shocked but I explained that when I got home at the end of the day all I had to do was go out into the street where there were usually some kids waiting to play. We would grab a broom handle, and one of those little pink balls that were so popular back then and start playing a form of stickball.
We had nothing but fun and got to make a lot of friends that way. We actually spoke to them rather than sending texts. We also had a thing called recess which seems to be disappearing from our school system for some odd reason. Recess is when we went outside, breathed fresh air, played various games on the playground, interacted with other students from the school, and in generally had a real good time during the school day.
Apparently, in order to pass all of the tests being designated by the various school boards, this luxury has been removed from most schedules. Isn’t that a bloody shame?
We also had another valuable benefit back then called a “study period.” This is when we were assigned to an unused classroom and allowed to devote time to studying and perhaps getting a head start on homework. Physical Education, Phys-Ed, PE — or whatever it was called — was mandatory each day. I have heard that some schools don’t even have it on the schedule to allow more time for learning how to take tests.
When I was sent off to school I had a little case for the few pencils that I may need, and perhaps a small ruler. My granddaughter Natalie came to visit a while back and had to go to the stationary store to buy her school supplies which consisted of 33 different items ranging from ear buds to a USB drive. Who knew what these things were back in my day?
Our town recently invited a bunch of principals from our area with hopes of finding out what type of assistance our town could be to the students. Knowing what I know on a firsthand basis I asked if there were any supplies or basic things that they would need in the classrooms.
The answer from everyone of them was “oh no, we have everything we need.” Of course, their bosses and school board members were there and they simply didn’t want to point a finger at them, so they just let it pass. In visiting the schools personally and talking to various principles I got a totally different story with complaints about lack of paper, notebooks, etc.
I am one who believes that a very important part of growing up involves interacting with your peers, learning the good and bad about them and setting your own behavior standards by mimicking the better students that you meet. This factor seems to have been removed from new our education system.
