School's Out

Now that school is out in our neck of the woods, my thoughts turned to how different it is today for kids going to school then when I went. I am convinced in looking at Grade 5 homework this past year, that it has started to be taught earlier or I am getting old and dumb. If this keeps up, I am going to be completely lost in another year.

I really don't want this to sound like "when I went to school", however when I went to school it was like this:

1. We had Physical Education every day. No fat kids walking around.
2. We actually had recess which meant that you hauled your butt outside and got some exercise. Cold weather or hot weather.
3. We did not have a fancy gymnasium, we had the Saskatchewan outdoors and it big and it was cold.
4. We did not have a cafeteria. We had something called brown bag lunches with tuna and Ritz crackers.
5. We did not have breakfast programs. We ate breakfast at home.
6. We did not have field trips. If we were to discover something, we discovered it on our own playing outside.
7. We did not have buses. We actually walked to school like the rest of the Village kids.
8. We did not have in school suspensions. We were disciplined by the Principal with a canvas strap.
9. We actually cleaned our own blackboards, chalk brushes, and emptied garbage pails and pencil sharpeners.
10. We knew if we were in trouble with the teacher, that we would also be in trouble with our parents.
11. We never brought a huge bag of supplies to school each year, our taxes paid for the necessities.
12. We never had parents cars lined up to pick us up, we walked home the same way we walked to school.
13. We never had a lot of homework, we actually went to school long enough in the day to finish what was needed.
14. We never had a band. We had a flutophone that we played "Three Blind Mice" on.
15. We never had a club to go to. That was what tree houses were for.
16. We never got participaction ribbons at the annual field day. We got either first, second, or third. Otherwise you went home empty handed.
17. We did not worry about being progressive. We recited the Lord's prayer, sang O'Canada in the morning, and sang God Save the Queen before we went home.
18. We never had a hallway pass. There were no hallways.
19. We never had some group school desk thing. The desks were in a line in a row.
20. We never had nap time, even in Kindergarten. We were there to learn and have some fun. Sleeping was what you did at home.

So the question is, were we better then in those days, then kids are today? Probably not, but I do know one thing. We never knew what we were missing, even if we were missing something. We grew to be strong and I think tough, and it was a good thing because we had no idea what the world was going to deliver our way. I have to go now, I hear the "bell".