School as I remember it.

to the point, 11-14-12

I am a graduate of Munday High School, class of 1959. When I was still in school and read about someone graduating in 1947, I thought they were old. Okay, I’ve been out of HS over 50 years, so what. When I put it in those words, it makes me sound, well, sort of old. I have lived that many years, but that alone doesn’t make me old. 

What makes a person old is the number of wrong turns he has made, or the number of bad decisions he has made. Rejections as in a bad love relationship or job aspirations also contribute negatively to our aging process. All the bumps and bruises of our physical life accumulate and invite the onset of arthritis into our being. Illness and arthritis probably contribute the most to the aging of our bodies and minds. Therefore, some of us age before we should, while others take their time.

I remember with fondness those years spent in Munday schools. First grade was an abrupt end to my life of leisure. I loved leisure, and to change to a life of structure was difficult, especially on days when my classmates teased me about the knee-length shorts my mother made me wear to school. I wanted to stay home from school, but my mother escorted me to school anyway. That was embarrassing enough, but I can top that with another story. 

My daddy just happened to trap a skunk right outside my bedroom wall. Of course everything in our house was well-perfumed by school time. I was still in the first grade when this happened, and by then I was ready to drop out of school and join the army, anything but go to school smelling like of l’air du skonk. All three of us Norville kids got a roasting that day, just ask Sue Haynie, that is a memory we will never forget.

I guess one could say that first grade is sort of like that for many kids. But many of us survived to go on to equally difficult second grade, then third, etc. Recess was my favorite subject. I think it was fourth grade when I finally became one of the first ones chosen, instead the last, to play on someone’s recess team. I remember thinking how wonderful it was not to be the last one standing, wanting so bad to be chosen. How quickly we as adults forget those terrifying moments when, as a child we knew that life was over, because no one wanted us on their team. 

Thank God there’s life after fourth grade. 

I was from a good home, good parents who loved me and wanted the best for me, even if it meant sending me off to school. How they must have loved to send me off to school every morning, and get me out of the house, and I wasn’t even a difficult child. Yeah, in that respect my parents were lucky. Except for that time so many of us played hooky. And that’s all we did, no bad stuff at all. It wasn’t right that we played hooky, but compared to what kids do today, our parents and school should have been more appreciative. Amen.

Other than a few kids stealing their parent’s cigarettes and smoking, there were no other vices we could get into. Well, some of us were tempted to drink beer. But by then we were mature enough to handle it, most of us were juniors, at least.

I think I can speak for most students era that era, we respected our teachers and tried to be good students. Not the best students, but good students. On the other hand I think the teachers were respectful of students as well. There was no abuse in the school system, no bullying problem. For awhile there was freshman hazing that got out-of-hand. But it was corrected and that was that. No suspensions, no one getting beat up in the hall. Teachers were in charge, there was never any doubt in our minds. 

I think what made relationships so much better then, for students and teachers was the fact that students had learned the essentials at home before coming to school. Students were obedient, they knew how to obey, not only their parents but their teachers as well. Students were well-behaved, even kind to each other and their teachers. I cannot remember a single student being disrespectful to their parents or teachers.

In school we worked on the basics, all the time. And if we didn’t keep our grades up, we didn’t suit up. That was it, no one balked at it. As a junior I remember too well when coach Stewart and Mr. Bardwell took me outside and read me the riot act: quit goofing off in physics, get your grades up and keep them up. 

A lot of what went on in school was monitored by our parents, they cared about what went on at achool, they kept up with our grades and school events, they attended PTA meetings and open house and everything that happened. And the school was always accommodating to our parents and never refused a chance to meet with a parent and discuss their children’s grades or whatever. 

There was always good participation among students. To be sure we didn’t have all the gadgets and conveniences that students now have. Every year we all looked forward to the Junior and Senior plays. We did it for fun, not for stress of prizes, etc. Everything we did was fun, even FFA when we had to grind cow food the first period, and the chaff and dust from that stayed with us all day. But we made fun out of it. In sports we never knew the stress of having a winning team, so we just enjoyed playing. As far as I know, no one ever got caught having sex in the field house, of course we didn’t have a field house.

Those were the days when students were taught how to read, how to add, subtract, multiply and divide without an electronic aid. Students could spell dog and cat and could put a simple sentence together with correct use of nouns and verbs. They knew who Shakespear was and what Mickey Mantle did for a living. They knew who their president was and even the speaker of the house. Most of all they knew how to make a living, without breaking the law.

But today, in this Post Modern, New Age world we now live in, where there are no such things as absolutes, where parents don’t know anything, where we need to forget all that God and country crap, where laws of right and wrong have flip-flopped, now there are no wrongs, everyone can do as he pleases, where it’s no longer good to speak out against evil, because evil is now good, and good is against the law.

In this world we no longer discipline our children or our students, after all they are now in charge. Students now make the rules and devise plans for the future. It’s okay for administrators to intimidate and criticize teachers in front of the students, which makes it alright for students to do the same.

I learned recently that Munday C.I.S.D. ranks near the bottom in every category that a school can be ranked, with one exception of course: the Moguls are ranked No. 1 in the state, heading into the playoffs. 

As I was preparing to write this column I pulled up the schools website and came across the mission statement. Please read this and think on it, long and hard: “We believe that  our school's purpose shall be to give students the best possible education that planning, experience, and effort can devise; by providing an effective school system in which there is a combined effort by students, administration, teachers, parents, and the community and an orderly climate conducive to teaching and learning. We accept the responsibility of not only education , but to  further develop social skills, self esteem, good citizenship, and academic excellence for the students of Munday C.I.S.D.”

Friends and neighbors, this statement in no way, depicts Munday C.I.S.D. today. I don’t know how long it took for our school to get in this condition, but things have gone too far and we desperately need to change the direction our school is headed.

I know I will be ostracized for bringing this up,  but if that’s what it takes to get some action started, so be it. If no one does anything, then may God help us all.

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