A Chance to Start Anew

And they’re off… Another school year has begun. Judging from the police radio scanner, the school buzzers will sound not a moment too soon for some students. They were the ones who, about mid-August, were hanging around local shopping centers, skateboarding, getting on their own nerves as well as those of shop owners and patrons. Such summer vacation doldrums are nothing new. They point to the clever notion that maybe shorter vacations could be beneficial to students.
Returning to school is different in all parts of the nation. In more rural areas, school ends in late May only to return in mid-August. Here, it’s been noted, the idea of returning to class prior to Labor Day might impact the summer employment of some teachers and students. For those reasons, the notion was never actively pursued.
Recently I shopped for some small, school-related items in a local store. They will be packed in shoe boxes as part of Operation Christmas Child, part of an outreach from my church, and sent to children in distant lands who might have nothing else on Christmas other than that small parcel. As I looked at display of pencils and pens, markers and rulers, I had to think about changing technology and school.
Perusing Middle Township School District’s website, I found and took a survey on how the community perceives the district. It is part of their district’s strategic planning initiative. If you pay school taxes in Middle Township, I would encourage you to take about 10 minutes to let the district know how you feel regarding the education provided.
Several survey questions pertained to technology in the classroom. Should the district provide such things as iPads and computers to the students? Was one of the, and there were others. Then I thought about those humble wood-clad lead pencils, a sharpener that was nothing more than a sharp razor, and some erasers in the shapes of balls and race cars. Will they be cherished by youngsters who will use them as prized possessions in their school?
Stacked against the latest technology with iPads and laptop computers, pencils hold a distant last place. Regardless, they were the elements used by many of us to learn math, penmanship, grammar and spelling. In parts of the Third World, where many annual family incomes are less than the price of one of those iPads, pencils may still be considered very important. One of the concerns for those buying goods for Operation Christmas Child, don’t think modern.
Don’t buy gadgets that require batteries, because they might not be available or affordable where the child receives the gift.
Try buying non-technological toys. It’s a bit of a challenge. Rubber balls, sets of jacks (remember them?), wooden puzzles, and even colorful hair ribbons are much appreciated. Some other sought-after items are tooth brushes and tooth paste, crayons and markers, and lined paper pads.
It is humbling to think that some children who will receive those shoe boxes will get to school and elsewhere by walking. Many will be used to walking, perhaps to get water for their family, going to school, if they can afford it, or to church.
Those who have visited foreign lands bring back stories that underscore the great importance many cultures place on education, yet it is unattainable for boys and girls whose parents lack money.
Those who attend school, perhaps in huts with thatched roofs, with rough-hewn tables and benches for students, may have only a few books available to them, yet they hunger to learn. No technology is available to them, yet they strive to do their best with basic tools, like pencils and paper pads, notebooks and rulers.
If you are familiar with a Peace Corps volunteer, they might be able to fill you in about such places in lands out of reach of Internet. It’s a certainty the stories you will hear from them about children hungry to learn will almost bring tears to your eyes.
Fast forward back to the here-and-now. Armed with the latest technological advances, how many of our students, not just in Middle Township, but elsewhere in the county, will hunger to learn like those children from afar? How many will read, not only to find the answers, but for the love of reading? Will they earnestly study because they want to be the best in their class, or must they be prodded to do even the minimum to get past? Will they have a strong bond with their teacher(s) that money cannot buy?
Out in the shed, I came across a relic from the past. How many remember a gadget called a slide rule? In a world of super-fast computers, slide rules are the equal of an abacus, but when I was fighting acne and puzzling about girls, (If you asked them, would they go on a date with you?) possessing a slide rule, especially in a holder on one’s belt, placed him in the stratosphere among his peers. Never a whiz with one, I could figure out some problems, but there are likely places in this world where even a slide rule would still place its owner in a world apart from others.
Sometimes I shiver at the thought of education today. Some parts of history are being ignored because they are nasty or embarrassing or not politically correct. That is tragic. How are students to learn if history is not taught? They must then learn by reliving it. Mathematics is being taught in ways I cannot imagine. Heaven forbid you try to assist in homework, since, while you might arrive at the correct answer, getting it will be all wrong.
We demand excellence, want none to fail, none to be left behind, yet that is not reality. In the natural world there are winners and losers, how can humans be different? Some are better than others, that’s the way it is and has always been. Failure ought not to be taken as a measure of worth, but rather for a chance to start anew. Without failure, how can success be sweet when it’s achieved?
It would be beneficial for every student in Cape May County to regularly recite the 4-H pledge, regardless of whether they are members: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world” and “To make the best better!”