The traffic on the street means one thing this time of year: children are heading to the classroom for a few months of new and exciting adventures.
Their backpacks are loaded with the supplies someone in charge has decided are necessary for gaining a meaningful and exemplary education.
In the past as I watched the students and their parents heading for the school doors, I couldn’t help but think of the “olden days” and how the learning process has changed — from one-room school houses mostly ruled over by young spinster ladies, or older married ladies who returned to the classroom once their own children were on their own — to the multi-roomed structures with gyms, teacher aides and computers and other teaching materials unheard of back in those “olden days.”
After stumbling onto a supply list for this year’s elementary school grades, I couldn’t help making some comparisons with then and now, coming to the conclusion that my Dad would have returned the list to the school on our town hill, likely asking the person in charge “do you think I’m made of money?”
I didn’t price out what it would cost to send a child to school based on the list, but I suspect it isn’t cheap to pay for a child’s free education with today’s expectations.
The first item on the supply list was two Kleenex boxes which got me to wondering if there’s a lot of crying or sneezing and sniffling going on in schools today? I recall our health class list which demanded that each student come to class with one “clean” tissue folded neatly in his or her pocket. But not two boxes. Interesting.
In those bygone-days we were excited to have one brand new HB pencil, carefully sharpened to make the most concise letters on the ruled pages of our Scribblers. Todays’ list calls for 12 pencils in Grade one, 20 in Grades two and three, and 24 in Grades four and five. It might be worthwhile to invest in a pencil factory.
At one time we were excited to have a box of crayons that held eight different colours. Then we were even more excited when new colours were added so we had 12 from which to choose. This year’s list calls for two boxes of wax crayons, each containing 24 colours. An artist’s dream come true to have an expanded rainbow. But why two boxes? A boy in our school chewed on his crayons then swallowed the bits he chewed off. He didn’t quit even when told to by the teacher. I shudder to think what he could have done with 48 crayons.
Duo-tangs seem to be a popular must-have item for modern education. Some Grades need four, higher grades need more, probably because they have more assignments to bind together in a card stock folder. The name was derived from the DuoTang Company that began their manufacture in 1931. Modern duo-tangs come in many colours but there’s no specific colour listed on the sheet.
The list of supplies goes on, ranging from rulers and scissors to pencil cases and pencil boxes, to water bottles and school bags or backpacks (big enough to carry library books).
And then there’s the requirement for one set of headphones. I wonder how many sets the teachers will go through in a year and if they listen to white noise or soothing country tunes?
Meanwhile, I think fondly of my early school days and how exciting it was to get new scribblers from Bennett Book Store in Moose Jaw to go along with a box of eight crayons. I was set for a year of wonderful education — without duo-tangs and headphones. Those indeed were the “olden days.”
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
