One thing in this very uncertain world that is not at all uncertain is the following: Public school certainly is not the way it used to be.
I signed up to volunteer at a local public school in a lower-middle class neighborhood in Wichita. Our church partners with this school in many ways, and volunteering there is one of those ways. I was placed in the afternoon latchkey program as a tutor for any students that needed help with homework.
I knew from having family who works and has worked in the school system that things are different. And they indeed are different. My teachers of years ago wouldn’t have a clue what to do and how to teach today. Mrs. Pearl, Mrs. Drouhard, Mr. Mayberry, and all the others would have a difficult time recognizing the school of today.
When I went to school, not that many years ago:

• There was no latchkey program. We were all sent home after school and a parent or older sibling was expected to be there.
• Teachers did not hand students off to parents at the end of the day to be certain that no one “unseemly” picked up the student. We were just all sent out the door and left to fend for ourselves, so to speak.
• We had no prepared lunches. Those who ate lunch at school brought their own.
• We did not eat snacks, except for milk in Kindergarten.
• Those who ate lunches when I was in school prayed, “God is great; God is good. Let us thank Him for this food. Amen.”
• Students didn’t ask “Why?” when asked to do something by a teacher. To do so would result in an immediate punishment, followed by added unpleasantness at home that evening.
• Students didn’t have to have a “pass” to go to the bathroom when I went to school. We just went down the hall.
• When I was in school, the school doors were not locked with only one entrance open. All doors were unlocked (except those few that specifically were fire escape doors).
• When I attended school, parents or other adults could come in the building any time. They did not have to stop by the office first and register.
• Teachers ran their classrooms without much “help” from the office, administration, or “downtown” many years ago. They often had upwards of 30 kids in their classes, and managed to teach even at that. A para was unheard-of.

No, I don’t want to go back to the “good old days”. There’s much to be said for computers in the classroom, brightly-lit and pleasant rooms, and today’s teachers are some of the best. However, I wonder if there is any way we could take some of the best of the past that may still be useful and apply it today. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea!