![]() ![]() By my rough calculations, I figure that I and my dad each walked 7,200 miles over the Sydneham River Bridge, to and from the same school in our formative years. A place where our minds and personalities were formed, for better or worse. We spent almost half of the first years of our life walking those familiar halls of learning. This may account for why so many of us have a special feeling for our old schools. Teachers, of course, had their own private entrance.Ĭhildren in my old hometown spent a good 12 years going to the same continuation school with primary grades on the first floor and senior grades (high school) on the second. For most kids, it was a rite of passage - an "I have finally arrived" sort of thing. Upon graduation (moving up) to high school on the second storey, boys and girls were privileged to use the same front entrance to the school as a first exposure to co-ed, co-existence in the society that awaited them. Heaven help anyone who ever strayed beyond that invisible dividing line. Students also had separate entrances at the back of the school. ![]() An activity highlight was "track and field day" held in October of each year.ĭuring elementary years, boys were assigned to one side of the school yard, and girls the other. The biggest "social" event of the school year was the annual commencement exercises. There was a certain regimentation too and the old school in Dresden (see photo above) that both my parents and I attended was no exception.Įxtra curricular activities were virtually non existent. If work was not up to standard, students were actually failed and held back a year.Just ask me! I failed a grade when my father passed away during my first year in high school.An embarrassing and belittling experience that haunts me to this day, forever carrying the stigma of the "dummy" label. Not learning math or neglecting homework often resulted in teachers administering the strap for insubordination. Punishment and discipline were high on the agenda too. School start times were also adjusted to accommodate farm kids who were required to work in the fall harvest. Of course, apprenticeships were readily available in many vocations in those days and economics were also a factor.Out of necessity, young people (boys in particular) were required to start making a living for themselves as soon as they were physically able. It is not too surprising that many students dropped out before ever making it to high school. You only have to look at vintage news reels to see that our parents' and grandparents' generations suffered a tawdry, monochromatic education, dismally devoid of colour and imagination. No question that the school that my parents attended at the turn of the 20th century was not as much fun and as exciting as the schools enjoyed by their great grandchildren in the 21st century. ![]() I have been involved in research recently that has impressed upon me just how much our education system has changed in the past 100 years. School in Dresden attended by my parents and their son, demolished ![]()
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