"Deliver me from Allen..."

As you begin the new year, be thankful you don't have in your classroom anyone like me - that is, the "me" when I was a kid (I'm wonderful now).

I really liked elementary school, and while I was a good student, I'll confess I was a troublemaker down to the bottom of my shoes. Well, maybe not a serious troublemaker - but definitely a serious mischiefmaker. My gut feeling is that I was bored.

This was in Buffalo, New York, where the teachers had their hands full, even without me in the class. Looking back, I now have nothing but fond memories and deep admiration for their dedication and ability. If I liked my teachers - and I liked all but one - my mischief was of the fun-loving kind...paper airplanes, that sort of thing.

However, the one teacher I didn't like was on the receiving end of some unruly behavior on my part that, I'm ashamed to admit, was inappropriate. But, not to worry - my teacher gave as good as she got, and I got what I deserved.

The fun I had in school - except for that one class - carried over into my after-school activities, resulting in bruises, cuts, scratches, torn clothes and fights with other kids as I participated in anything and everything that kids do after school.

There was adventure, too. Some of you may remember when I wrote about spending afternoons "climbing garages" in a neighborhood with back alleys and garages cheek-byjowl with each other.

The greatest sense of adventure came from my bicycle rides all over Buffalo. I had become skilled and daring on my bike - like all kids everywhere - and what fun it was to reach out with my left hand, grab the rear corner of a trolley car and sit on my bicycle as the trolley gave me a fast, free ride to the center of town. Sometimes I even grabbed the tailgate of a truck, for an even faster, more thrilling ride.

It was idiotic, of course, but it proves to me there's a God somewhere whose only responsibility is to keep kids from killing themselves.

Back in the early 30s I remember - but most of you don't - that educating kids was a very "local" endeavor and teachers were admired, even revered. At the national level, there was no Department of Education and little, if any, federal aid to education. And certainly, no one had ever heard of "No Child Left Behind."

I hesitate to say those were "the good old days," because today's teachers are doing a marvelous job and are gradually (but more slowly than we might like) seeing salaries rise to a level commensurate with their importance to our communities and our kids.

But in "the good old days," as the late Dr. Leland Jacobs would often tell Patricia Broderick and me, there seemed to be more respect for teaching than there is today. "Everybody tipped their hats to me, the schoolmaster," Dr. Jacobs said.

I'm not sure that's a good yardstick. The population is better educated and so teachers are no longer on a pedestal. Rather, they're one of us, and that's good.

What's equally important - emphasizing the community's respect for teachers - is that salaries are slowly climbing, teachers are recognized for the professionals they are and, most revealing of all, no respectable politician would run for office without seeking support from teachers. So, as they say, "we've come a long way, baby."

We have indeed. (Now, as for NCLB...)

Allen A. Raymond, Publisher

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Aug/Sep 2005
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