A little learning must go further than ever on rising prices and cultural diversity | Columns

Today was one of those good days when school was going well. In perilous times like these, that sort of thing is never guaranteed. Earlier I read Smokey Shott’s column about a fictional message to a high school principal and Mike Eades’ letter to the editor, both of which contain interesting messages regarding education. Both raised points that I have been thinking about for the past few hours. To be honest, do that several years.

I have never been more concerned about our young people than now. It is true that they have survived, in a way, an unprecedented two years of masks, masks and quarantine sometimes mixed with virtual and/or distance school.

Before I complain too quickly about any of these decisions, I pause to consider a school reunion a long time ago when I made a suggestion. The president said, okay, so what would you do? Great lesson there. For example, we hear a lot about snow days and late hours. After spending time talking to directors and transport managers, I tell you sincerely that I would not want such a job.

How many times has it snowed on one side of the hill and not the other? How do you know when to call late or whether to call remotely? It doesn’t matter if I grumble or not, I’m sure I couldn’t do a better job than those named and without that pressure I can sleep much easier.

Wasn’t it in 1962 that Madalyn Murray O’Hair posed a legal question in court and prompted the ruling that prayer in public schools was not kosher? I grew up when elementary school teachers would quote a Bible verse and sometimes read a chapter every morning before school. It suited me and I felt it was absolutely the right thing to do.

I never thought of anyone who might not believe the Good Book or might have a different opinion. The Jewish child might prefer not to hear anything from the King James version. Later, when we studied religious freedom in what is now the United States of America and then found that someone like Roger Williams had to go and create his own state, so to speak, in order to really have it, so that certainly made the thinking a little different for this guy. Freedom is not quite free when it is forced.

Of course, there are many things in education that I would like to change and I’m sure it would work. At least they worked when I was growing up. As a digression (one of those words I learned in school), it’s very likely that we all understand that cloning isn’t quite capable of doing what it advertises if it tells us happened to make another one of us like us. You see, those people wouldn’t grow up in the world we made.

School is a bit like that too. In 1964, for example, we had the paddle. It worked and the home switch and belt also worked. Lots of scratches and bruises and a bit of a scare. For those of us who haven’t had too many problems, this has never been a problem. It wasn’t until years later that stories began to emerge from coast to coast of children who weren’t so lucky and lived in a much darker world than the ‘good people’. had never imagined.

I had encyclopedias at home, encouragement from everywhere, and the perfect environment to succeed. When you’re blessed, that’s how it is. When you’re not, like Huckleberry Finn, who was beaten because he learned to read when his parents never did, it makes a difference.

School could go better for many people if we could dispatch the problem kids, make everyone “straighten up and fly”. Easier than it looks. Chemical makeup, the gender a person is born with, determines a way of life that we old traditionalists would never choose. We were born another way, the usual way, you might say.

So today was a good day. We set goals in September that we have achieved and even exceeded. It was not easy. Some of us had to relearn manners and structure. Guess what? We are still learning. It might take us a few more years or a few years to get back what we’ve been missing out on, but there are signs that almost every child would love to.

Of course, there is laziness. We fight sometimes. But gas is $4 a gallon – until it goes up again. My generation almost always had enough to eat, but today’s students do come to school sometimes to get the best meal of the day. I am happy to be unaccountable and grateful to our principal, our school board and our superintendent. Better to mention the last super, Dr. Deborah Akers, who did such a magnificent job of guiding us through one challenge after another. I don’t envy Dr. Toman, who works hard to keep the ship of state moving, but I’m sure he and his staff will work it out.

I don’t have all the answers, but the vast majority of these graduate students I teach have found several over the past few months. We have miles to cover and promises to keep, that’s for sure.

Think of us as we move slowly down the education highway.

Larry Hypes, a teacher at Bluefield High School, is a The telegraph of the day journalist. Contact him at larryhypes52@gmail.com.