Dick Yarbrough
"School days. School days. Who made these rules day?
Why are we in school in hundred degree heat?
Even the hickory stick looks beat.
My queen has shed her calico.
For a bucket of ice to ease her woe.
I wrote on my slate, 'I wish it'd snow.
Before I conk out from the heat.'"
Call me old school (real old) but there is something about starting school the first of August that doesn't seem quite right. I know that students today have a lot more things to learn than did my generation, but couldn't they start learning it after Labor Day when the temperature turns a few degrees north of you-know-where?
About the only good I see coming out of the earlier start is that kids won't hate Labor Day like we did when I was growing up. Labor Day always meant that the next day we had to get up early, get dressed, hug Momma and the dog and trek off to school and start trying to figure out whether you get percentages by dividing the numerator by the denominator or the other way around. When we got done with that, then it was time to try and figure out where Poland was on the pull-down map.
Now, students have calculators to figure out percentages and a computer that will not only find Poland (It's between Germany on the west and Lithonia and Uvalde on the east) but will tell you also what the natives like to eat (Kotlet schabowy is a favorite. Personally, I can't stand the stuff.)
By the time Labor Day rolls around these days, the kids won't know it's there. Or care. Their brains will be fried.
So why do we need school to start earlier? It is, after all, the first of August. If there is still a Home Ec Department - and I'm guessing there is not - they could fry eggs on the sidewalk.
And the poor teachers. Not only are they impacted by severe budget cuts and having to buy their own supplies and likely taking home less pay than they did last year, now they have to watch and be sure their students don't turn into roasted turkeys before they can teach them the difference between a hypotenuse and a hippopotamus.
I don't believe there is much chance of getting the Cobb County School Board to change its collective mind. Board Chair Lynnda Crowder-Eagle told the Marietta Daily Journal, "Me personally, I don't believe that two weeks would make a lot of difference in Georgia in the summer. It's hot," Crowder-Eagle said. Thank you for that astute observation.
Let 'em eat ice cream.
It is believed that Madame Chairwoman said this in a location that is air-conditioned and not on one of the school buses that is not.
(Let's see: There are approximately 907 buses in the school system. 107 are air-conditioned and are designated for special education use. That leaves 800. Then you divide the numerator by the denominator - or the other way around - and I'm guessing 88 percent of all the school buses in Cobb County aren't air-conditioned. If I am right, we have Miss Bolton my fifth-grade teacher to thank. If I am wrong, it is because I can't figure out this calculator on my iPhone.)
I don't need my memory of Miss Bolton or a calculator to guess that probably 100 percent of the offices on Glover Street are air-conditioned and about the same percentage of the board members and the central staff tool around in air-conditioned vehicles.
Maybe we could pass a law and make all the poobahs ride a school bus to work.
It couldn't hurt.
I hope requiring our kids to go to school in the searing August heat is worth it and that they will grow up wiser than the current generation - which shouldn't be too much of a stretch - and invent a lot of things and cure a lot of things, rid the world of broccoli and bring us peace on earth and good will to all persons.
If so, it will have been worth it. In the meantime, I just hope they don't pass out from the heat before September rolls around.
Now if you will excuse me, my queen in calico needs more ice.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb2400@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
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1-8, no kindergarten in a two room log cabin with one teacher to teach 65 kids in 4 grades in each room. We went to school from the day after labor day until June 15. During the summer we had to help our parents to gather the harvest so we could stay alive during the winter months. We didn't seem to lose our minds in the process. All six of the children in my family graduated from High School. Four of them graduated from undergraduate school. Three of them obtained post graduate master degrees. One of us attained a doctorate and taught for 20 years at the University of Missouri. Using your logic, we should hsve all remained hillbillies for our entire lives. How did we ever make it as far as we did? We also learned to spell "know-nothing".
EyeRolling wrote on Saturday, Aug 07 at 09:20 AM »
Dick, I'm in my 30's and went to school right here in Cobb. We went back in mid-to-late August and it was hot and there was no A/C on the buses. We didn't melt, nor suffer any long-term damage from riding a bus for 20 minutes. This fantasy of a post-Labor Day start is pure nostalgia and parents need to stop treating kids like they're made of glass. If you made them put down the Xbox and go outside, they'd be used to it like we were"
Don't be ridiculous--how could you sell newspapers with an attitude like that?
Secondly, Mr Sanderson claimed at one point that, not only would starting a week sooner wouldn't cost more in energy costs, but it would actually save over $70,000 (in a board meeting, I believe). This defies the laws of physics!
He claimed that we are 'basically taking a week of energy costs from later in the year and moving it'. This sounds like some maintenance self-appointed 'guru' had done some significant, errant, convincing.
Here's how it works: Air conditioning is the greatest energy cost in school buildings. Because of the need for fresh air for every human, outside air has to be brought in. When that outside air is hot, it requires more energy to drop its temperature. As we all know, if the temperature isn't dropped enough to satisfy the thermostat, the unit keeps running... using energy... driving up your electrical bill.
Last I checked, CCSD hasn't been able to get Brock & Clay to find a way to waiver the laws of physics.
By the way, Poland isn't next to Lithonia... it's way to the east of Snellville. :p
I'll bet you didn't have to do summer reading either with books over 600 pages, and multiple assignments attached to them...These kids do not get a summer, they need a break from school, sports, etc. Let them be kids for a while, and starting school this early in this heat is absurd. Especially when they aren't allowed to dress for it. My daughters have had to wear jeans to school for the last few days because shorts are not allowed. School needs to start after Labor Day. It is too hot to run buses, too costly to air condition, and just plain stupid. I did see that David Banks rode a few buses, but you should see the response he gave to someone who emailed him about it. It is circulating among emails all over this county and he should be embarrassed. Mis-spellings all over the place. Can we at least get some educated people on the school board that we can be proud of?
"Let 'em eat cake"...yes, great point Dick, let's let them eat cake on their way out the door so the fools in this community can get a knee-jerk administration that will cater to such ridiculousness and let the unfortunate children of this no-nothing community fall further behind their peers around the globe.
After this move, many school districts said they had to align their start & stop dates with the university system, so that teachers could start & finish any summer classes at the these institutions & not interfere with their schedules as teachers.
Since then, local school systems have gradually inched up the start dates into August and added these random "weeks off" throughout the school year- Sept & Feb. Not too long ago in Cobb, Thanksgiving break was only Wed, Thurs, & Fri.
Some educators claim that too many weeks off during the summer causes students to forget much of what they learned during the previous school year; yet they argue a week off every 6 to 7 wks as no effect.
Teachers in the classroom also claim that it is hard for the students to concentrate on school in the week leading up to a vacation and the week back from a vacation. I have witnessed in elementary classrooms the two days before Christmas vacation the students doing nothing but crafts and watching movies. And the the day before the February break, movies and games were the curriculum all day. This is common place in many schools.
So if we were to take away the Sept. & Feb. break and the 5-7 days when no actually curriculum was taught, the public schools could start at least the week before Labor Day and end the first week of June. Exactly as it use to be in Cobb County.