Grade school: Then and now

The basement contained a large playroom and a bandstage at the south end of the playroom. This area is now all classrooms. The playroom had a concrete floor and a basketball hoop at the north end. The hoop was only about 2 feet below the ceiling which meant you couldn't arch the ball very much or you would hit the ceiling. I guess this is why so many Minonk basketball players where known for their line drive shots with no arch.

During good weather, we would scramble down to the basement floor to wait for Benny Janssen, the janitor, to come open the closet that contained the baseballs and bats. I can still remember how musty the odor was from that dark closet. Benny loved to tease us kids before he would give us a ball or bat. He would make us stand in line and then give each of us a ball or bat. If we ever got too anxious or demanding, Benny would threaten to take us to the "cooler" which was in the furnace room. Taken to the cooler by Benny was akin to being dumped by a senior when you were a freshman in high school - terrifying and humiliating and to be avoided at all cost. Old Benny delighted in threatening us with the prospect of taking us to the "cooler". I never did quite know what the cooler was.

The boy's bathroom was the scene of many an activity since it gave us some privacy from the girls and the teachers. We would lay out our baseball cards on the floor of the bathroom and make trades with other card collectors just like we were Branch Rickey trying to trade Duke Snider for Stan Musial.

There was one teacher for each class or grade. We stayed in the same room all year and were not encumbered with computers, slide shows or other visual aids. We were forced to learn the old fashioned way. Read your book and listen to the teacher. Maybe our education seemed boring, however, we were not distracted. If you became a problem you were punished by being made to stay after school and wash the blackboards or clean the chalk from the erasers.

The new building at Fieldcrest Elementary South is modern, bright and appears to be well constructed. The exterior of the building matches the older building. The new building has an elevator and the rooms are bright and roomy. However, the design of the exterior is unimaginative compared to the older building. The windows are small and appear to be randomly placed. Obviously, economics are more important than aesthetics in modern buildings.

The walls of the some of the classrooms that I inspected were covered with all sorts of signs, pictures, toys, paper cutouts, etc. The desks did not appear to be in order but rather were arranged in many different directions. Boxes of stuff were stored along the walls. Many of the rooms had computer terminals. Maybe this environment was the result of the open house. However, with the addition of the new buildings I would not think that overcrowding would be an issue.

I feel that this type of environment is the result of a gradual process, not a mandate set down by someone. It may be the result of our zeal to make education more interesting and fun for students. However, maybe we should step back and take another look at what we have here.

I believe the order of the classroom of years ago provided more of a secure feeling. Today's school room reflects our lives in general. Our lives are now cluttered with stuff. Even our children cannot escape the madness of having stuff in our lives. I wonder if a reason for the increase in hyper children is partly due to the hyper environment of the class room!

While I am trained as a technical person, I still feel that it is important to give a child a basic education first before they even look at a computer. Take away the gadgets, the pictures, the hoopla that detracts from a child's attention. Teach the child in an orderly room with no computers. Drill them with the 3 R's and forget the engaged learning and the technical skills until the child feels secure enough with the basics.

Why not reduce the visual stimulation in our class rooms and allow our children to concentrate on being motivated and taught by a teacher in a simple and comfortable environment? Let the teacher be their focus and inspiration.

My opinion is based on my gut instincts rather than from years of being an educator and I could be very wrong. Nevertheless, observations on the outside looking in sometimes offer some insights that are not possible for those who are in the trenches every day.