School just ain’t what it used to be

            Almost two weeks of my daughter’s school year are over, and once again I must reflect on how school has changed since I was young.  Yes, times sure change in 30 years.  While I hesitate to say those were the good ol’ days, they were indeed good days.

            But before I get too sentimental, I'll humbly offer some slightly critical observations of our school system today.  Please take them with a grain of salt.

• No more A’s.  That’s because the early grades, at least in our school, now receive an “R” for “ready” or “P” for “progressing” or NQRTDTTNKD for “not quite ready to do the things normal kids do” (okay, I made that one up).  And I suppose it’s all right for the younger kids – why do they need to know they’re failing grade one after all?  And grades are over-rated, I completely agree. But when you’re as academically competitive as I am, I’m really looking forward to my daughter’s first A (and it better be an A!)
• Interesting bell times.  While not at my daughter’s school, I’ve noticed other schools have some interesting bell times.  For example: opening bell at 8:53, recess at 10:38, lunch “hour” from 11:58 to 12:43.  Most adults have a hard enough time getting to work at 8:00 let alone making sure their kids are at school at 8:53.  But it does lend itself to some interesting math practice for kids.  For example: “If you start school at 8:53 and begin recess at 10:38, how much instructional time does your teacher have left before the end of the day?”
• Nut-free schools.  This is something I didn’t grow up with either.  I completely understand it given that some kids have severe allergies.  I’d just like to know, what’s up with this?  Some researchers have recently suggested that lack of exposure to peanuts at a young age may be causing the epidemic.  In Ukraine, where my wife is from, they’ve never heard of kids of having such allergies.  Nor in India, where nuts are used in so many of their meals.  I’m not blaming the school system, I’m just asking, what’s up with this?

  

  The dreaded second day of school picture
• Physical literacy.  This is a new term I just learned the other day.  Yes, it has something to do with phys ed.  My fondest memories of phys ed were playing King’s Court with a teacher who threw giant over-sized rubber balls at our heads.  Sometimes the game would end in tears, but normally we just had a good time.  In today’s world, phys ed begins with parents filling out an evaluation of their child’s physical abilities.  I suppose the intention is for the child to improve in certain areas.  But what about the giant over-sized rubber balls?
• Blogs.  Definitely a new thing in our electronic era.  My parents used to get hard copy newsletters.  In our school, we’re inundated with teacher blogs.  Not only her regular teacher, but now the phys ed teacher, too.  While I’m still not sure if I want to know everything about my child’s day, it is nice to have the daily communication.
• No more cursive writing.  That’s right, they’ve eliminated it from the curriculum.  I really wonder about this one.  Even in this computerized age, I still find myself having to use a pen for much of my work.  We’ve taught our daughter how to write, but there will be many in her generation who will never know how to properly write their names.
• New math.  I can’t say I know much about the new math yet, as we’ve done only basic math up to this point.  But I’ve heard from friends that it’s wonderful in creating new parent-child challenges (much like a science project).  My daughter’s teacher told us that we won’t be able to help her much because there are so many words involved.  So many words in math…. That just doesn’t sound right.  Don’t you just learn the rules, memorize the tables, and go at ‘er?  This is why kids who hate reading love math!

So that’s my diatribe.  I really do love my daughter’s school.  In fact, I’ve been very impressed with the quality of teaching.  I just think the system could use a little tweaking.  You know, to make it more like it the good ol' days.