Today is first day of school for our kids around here. At Goliad it is first day for Emily and Dempsey. Do you remember that first day of the Fall? My first day was at the Cavanaugh School near Fort Smith, Arkansas. The school was a two-story brick building with fire escapes on either end. There was a bell tower in the middle. The playground had a set of swings, a slide, and a merry-go-round. In the back of the building was a dirt basketball court. You might say, "Not bad for an elementary school." This however, was all twelve grades. The basketball court was the "gym". On my first day of school I was in the first-second-third grade! We were in the same room but in different rows of desks. The desks were not movable. They were on runners. A low brick wall surrounded the school. The wall was a place to sit and talk, or eat lunch, or whatever. We lived across the gravel road at the side of Cavanaugh School. I could run home at lunch to eat. I had the same teacher my first three years. By the time one finished the third grade he/she knew all the subject matter well. The same was repeated in grades 4-5-6. I think we received a good education in that setting. Certainly the "three R's" were drilled into us.
Today, kids are working with computers instead of Big Chief tablets. The advanced learning is amazing. We also have parochial and home school settings. Each does as well as the teacher leading. That is the KEY and the MOTIVATOR.....the TEACHER! God bless the Teacher! I doubt that any boy headed for school today with marbles in a Bull Durham sack. Instead he had some electronic "star wars" type thing. In my day, a "steelie ball" for a toll and you were "in". Anyone remember?
