Good morning–did you know I was the Queen Of Halloween–that’s what Local Channel 6 http://www.clickorlando.com/ called me many years ago–I was even the lead story on the 11 pm news—-I’ve led a really weird life. Oh and the top picture is one of my trips to Edinburgh http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_121 which wasn’t weird (at least most of it) but was a lot of fun. Worked yesterday and put more great stuff in my store https://www.etsy.com/people/sarren126
ANY BODY BUT ME NOTICE (links may contain spoilers)
Anything goes week continues with School Days–Remembrances and Reality
Yes I was young once upon a time–I remember an older kid (maybe a babysitter?) taking me to school that first day–the rest is just scattered odds and ends of my first two years of school (by the 3rd year we’d moved to another state and I was in church school—a place that is not always in my good memories.)
If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe
I do remember spankings—or at least a rap on the hands and not from a nun—my family was frantically Protestant–I remember one teacher, a nasty old maid that the parents raved about—as they were probably scared that she would do something to them if they didn’t. I didn’t have any problems being spanked as my parents didn’t spare the rod, except from her wrinkled old being who I believe had an ancestor who lived in a gingerbread house in the woods and served grade school children stewed in herbs for dinner.
Now days things have changed–but not as much as you might think:
“The U.S. Department of Education has reported that school-sanctioned spanking is most prevalent in Southern states – Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Louisiana. There are no state laws against spanking, although 27 states have policies against the practice and this year Pennsylvania is debating becoming the 28th. Spanking in schools is currently allowed in 23 states (although in many districts parents who object can withhold permission for school personnel to spank their kids). ”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90406AS one of the not cool kids I had a love/hate relationship with Recess. On the one hand it got me away from long hours of listening to a lesson which generally bored and dragged on and on—but on the other hand then I had to deal with the cool kids who bullied and abused. I did not take either lying down and so I was always getting in trouble for fighting (or I hung out someplace uncool with the few uncool characters like me and tried to pretend it didn’t bother me.)
Florida schools and I am sure other states have started to erase Recess from their school schedules but according to The American Academy of Pediatrics: “Recess is at the heart of a vigorous debate over the role of schools in promoting the optimal development of the whole child. A growing trend toward reallocating time in school to accentuate the more academic subjects has put this important facet of a child’s school day at risk.
Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom. But equally important is the fact that
safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it. Recess is unique from, and a complement to, physical education—not a substitute for it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development and, as such,
it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.fullAnother part of school I actually enjoyed is also under attack: Summer Vacation. When I was little (I think George Washington was president) we got out of school at the end of May (which also marked the beginning of summer reruns on TV–a bummer but we were kids what did we know) and Ended after Labor Day. Now days here in Florida where they are for spanking and against recess it should come as no surprise that kids start back in August–several counties are already back in school and more go back each week.
But just cause it seemed like a good idea it is still dated and needs to be reviewed: “Matthew Lynch in his EdWeek article,
Year-Round Schooling: Why It’s Time to Change, says that when public schools first started popping up in the U.S., they were considered secondary to other hands-on pursuits. Learning to read, write and perform arithmetic in classrooms was valued less highly than was the work of building the nation and keeping up family farms.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research finds that the average American student is off from school 13 weeks/calendar school year — with approximately 10-11 of those being consecutive during June-August. Few other countries have this arrangement. Although 10 percent of U.S. schools have transitioned to a year-round school calendar with shorter breaks inserted throughout the year, the majority of U.S. schools still follow a summers-off schedule.
Adult: So when do you go back to school Me: can’t I just enjoy the rest of my summer without thinking about that? Unknown
So there you have it Spanking is still there, Recesses should be and summer vacations shouldn’t —maybe that’s the future your kids or grandkids will have.
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
- God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
- The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man that can not read them.
- Just the omission of Jane Austen’s books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn’t a book in it.
- There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to “angelship.”
- I never let my schooling interfere with my education.
All the above are from my favorite Mark Twain
