School Days

 Lay of the Land

3/2/2016      

The Lay of the Land

By Lyn Messersmith

School Days

            This is the time of year when school seemed endless to me and all my fellow students. There was no spring break in those days; no time off for Easter, faculty trainings, and certainly not for state tourneys. I’m not even sure they had state tourneys back then. Consequently, the time from Christmas vacation to the last day of school dragged on and on. Likely the teachers felt the same, but they had ways of breaking the monotony and keeping our attention.

            Art class projects focused on decorations for our room—hearts or shamrocks to paste on the windows, and Valentines to exchange, even May baskets. We sang the songs appropriate to seasons during music periods, and learned about holiday customs in various cultures in social studies classes.

            In retrospect, it surprises me how few issues there were with the sort of behavioral problems that get solved with medication these days.  Teachers handled the mischief makers with immediate consequences—no recess, staying after school, moving the offender to sit next to the teacher’s desk, or writing an apology on the board fifty times. There was always the principal’s office, but that was a last resort, and to be avoided, because we’d seen the wooden paddle hanging by the door. Besides, most of us knew we’d be in even bigger trouble at home once word of misbehavior reached a parent, which always happened sooner, rather than later.

            With two or three grade levels to a room, the older students were kept busy in spare time by assisting younger ones, and the occasional slow learner or handicapped child was allowed to progress at levels which fit their abilities.

            I think the structure of the school day had a lot to do with how we were able to settle in and learn. First came the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by singing a patriotic song. If the teacher was a piano player she let us choose a couple of other songs to sing, as well. This repetition signaled that it was time to transition from play to business. We had a few moments to expend energy in an appropriate manner before being required to sit down and be quiet. Morning sessions were reserved for harder subjects, math, science, and such, because our minds were fresher.

            Lunch hour was just that—an hour. Many went home to eat but others brought a sack lunch, and in a way I envied them because they got more playground time before school took up again.

Opening Exercises in the afternoon consisted of teacher reading aloud to us for fifteen minutes, often from a book one of us had brought. That gave us an opportunity to quiet our bodies and minds before digging in to study. Having language and art class later in the day fit the progression begun after lunch, and we often had spelling bees, another opportunity to get out of our seats and channel energy in acceptable ways. Nobody had heard of Attention Deficit Disorder then, but it was being handled creatively. Perhaps most effective was the amount of physical exercise; nobody got to stay in at recess unless for punishment or extreme weather, and most of our games involved running or jumping.

  Classroom debriefing time is rare today. Even when kids are sitting, which is much too often, their minds are generally stimulated by constant movement on some electronic device, and some of this is transitioned into lesson time.     There’s little opportunity for physical or mental exercise that’s not supervised or directed by adults. Is it any wonder they break out in inappropriate activity more often than we did back in the old days? Is it possible that many of the behavioral issues teachers have to deal with now are related to diets that contain excess sugar, and routines that don’t allow for imagination and working off energy? Somehow, little league ball and PE classes don’t cut it like a pick-up game in a vacant lot.

Of course it would help if teachers were allowed to discipline and parents cared enough to back them up. Not that I’m advocating returning to the principal’s paddle, but surely some old style classroom techniques couldn’t hurt, and might reduce reliance on medication.

Is Anyone Listening?

2/24/2016

The Lay of the Land

By Lyn Messersmith

Is Anyone Listening?

“We always talk across the fence, but neither of us has any interest in being on the same side of it.”      Anonymous

            If we’re really listening, we’ll often hear something profound from unexpected sources. I keep those gems in a notebook, along with the names of people who offered the notion. The speaker’s name doesn’t matter, in this case, although it’s unlikely that any readers know him. Let’s just call him Jake.

            Jake wasn’t the sort one pictures as possessing pearls of wisdom, but upon meeting him I learned two things; not to judge books by the cover, and to keep an ear open when he opened his mouth.  His hair was long and uncombed, usually sticking out from under a stocking cap or other headgear. A halfway beard, not the kind cultivated these days as looking cool, and his clothing looked like he’d just crawled out from under some sort of machine he’d been repairing, which was sometimes the case. He drove an old beater that would have fit well in a demo derby lineup, but was handy with mechanical things and a hard worker at whatever job was offered.  Jake is an accomplished musician, and it wasn’t unusual to find him entertaining in a local joint on a weekend.

            Those talents weren’t hard to fit with his persona, but it was when he spoke that you really paid attention. For one thing, his vocabulary was way beyond average and he was likely to use words that wanted pondering. He would tell you he didn’t know much about such and so, if he didn’t, but also let it be known he was searching to learn, and sometimes proposed a theory that made so much sense the listener wondered why they hadn’t thought of it themselves. Most of all, Jake had a way of cutting to the chase in a simple phrase like the one above, and people tended to relate his comments to their own problems or circumstances. He moved far away last year. I told him I was going to miss him, and I do.

            I’ve been reading through the notebook of wisdom lately and when I happened on this quote, one of many from Jake, my mind went straight to the political debates. Rarely is any candidate interested in crossing to the other side of the fence, or even in climbing up to sit on the top rail, listen, and discuss solutions. Have you heard any of them say they didn’t know, when answering a question? Has anyone confessed they needed to research the issue more in order to form an intelligent opinion? Who has admitted having learned from a mistake, or even making one? Apparently, they all are trying to hide the fact that they are human.

            See the thing about Jake was he never bragged, or cast blame. I haven’t been able to settle on a candidate to support for President, and I just realized why. I’m looking for someone like Jake, and he’s one of a kind.

           

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Do Tell!

The Lay of the Land

By Lyn Messersmith

2/10/2016

Do Tell!

            I don’t know which irritates me more—the continual news cycle on television that simply repeats canned stories over all day with occasional interviews from talking heads, or the radio station in a nearby town that gives virtually no news, other than a one minute blurb with instructions to go to the internet for further information. I haven’t time or inclination to sit and scroll for news, but those who do say that what’s on the web is basically a repeat of the on air minute. That station is not locally owned, and obviously keeps only a skeleton staff. I guess that’s what happens when we outsource jobs.

            Has anyone else noticed that we are regressing where marketing is concerned? Surely it’s not coincidental that trade deals, factories moving overseas, internet shopping, and big business mergers have increased as our choices have decreased. Drive by any new car lot and note how few colors are available; look in a Wal-Mart parking lot and count the number of white, black and tan vehicles in comparison to other colors. Henry Ford advertised his Model T this way. “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.” 

A chain grocery in a mid-sized Panhandle town has stopped offering certain brands, which sold well locally, because their supplier now only ships those products in quantities which are prohibitively large for the rural population base. The daily newspaper in that town, under corporate ownership, has become simply a condensed version of big city papers, and contains little news relevant to the community.  

            Radio is the ideal medium for communication because it’s portable and adaptable to multi-tasking. You can listen in the shop, bathtub, car or tractor, while doing dishes or laundry, cooking or gardening. It fits into personal routines and even brings families together. How many rural people used to listen to news, weather and markets during breakfast or at noon dinner? In my growing up years, no one dared breathe loudly while Paul Harvey was on, and lively discussions often ensued after the broadcast. I’ve made a few purchases because of swap shop programs, and gained knowledge from listening to interviews with candidates for county office, or citizens planning fund raisers or celebrations.

            Radio fills a gap for people who don’t have a computer or smart phone, or get the hometown paper. They can still be informed about upcoming farm sales and the weekly specials down on Main, hear when the school board meeting is, what time the ball game starts and who has filed for what political office.

Privately owned radio stations, newspapers, and bookstores may soon be obsolete, but we’re fortunate to still have them available out here in the boonies. We have access to home grown newspapers, an independent bookstore that’s touted all across the state, and radio stations that do a good job of keeping listeners informed regarding current events and weather bulletins. Say thanks to the people that have hung in there and provided these services, and support them every chance you get. They are the core of our communities. That old saying, “Use it or lose it,” is true. We’ve already let too much slip away.