first day of school

my grandson started school this week. he was so proud, so brave, so hopeful , so grown up. he was fairly bursting with enthusiasm. i felt a little sad, seeing him set forth on that path. it's like giving him over to the outside world- outside his immediate family and neighbourhood.on my walk home after the photo shoot, i reflected on the next big occassion on this path would be 13 years from now when it would be his graduation. i know from experience how fast that time goes.
i want for him an experience far different from mine. my first day of school started like his full of hope and expectation. my mother accompanied me to school. there were about 40 students in my class.my memory is that i was standing by the teacher's desk, when i realized my mother was not beside me. i looked towards the door , only to see her leaving. i started to cry and miss senna whacked me across my knuckles with a wooded ruler. i had never been hit ! i went into shock. here i was ,a painfully shy six year old who had a great attachment to my mother, left alone with this monster ! it traumatized me and still does. not much wonder i've carried a lifetime fear of authority.
i was a very bright child. i loved reading, had a wonderous curiousity and an insatiable appetite for learning. what had i done to deserve such brutality?
this same teacher taught me again in grade 8. her brutish ways hadn't changed.
one lovely fall (or was it spring) day, my best friend and i played hookey. we spent the afternoon at my house trying on bathing suits. the next day the teacher being suspicous that we were both off at the same time , requested a note from our parents explaining our absence. my mother was kind enough to comply event though she was not condoning my action. miss senna was not happy with the note and strapped me in front of the entire class. i don't recall if she strapped my best friend.
what was it with this woman? i've never been able to figure it out. perhaps abuse has no logic. it's just sadistic.
i did have happier days in school . i loved my grade 4 teacher. miss coffey. unlike my first three teachers she was young and married. she got married the year she taught us, she invited the whole class to her wedding. it was beautiful as was she.
later on in high school we had her sister, who had been a nun. she didn't have the same kind of personality. although she was a wonderful teacher, she was more guarded ,probably out of necessity,as we had another young good looking female teacher miss fahey, who was given such a hard time by the young bucks, that she eventually left teaching period. too bad, as i think in high school you need young energetic teachers.
my youngest daughter is a high school teacher. i admire her so much. she is so enthusiastic and loves teaching. i taught school also. but you couldn't pay me enough to walk into a high school classroom.my memory of what happened to miss fahey would give me the horrors.
as a parent i felt a bit of a failure in not being able to protect my children from bad experiences . they had teachers who should not have been allowed around children , much less in charge of them for 6 hours a day.
i'm not sure i agree with mandatory education. i am sure our education system needs a complete overhauling. it needs to be dismantled and rebuilt .
it truly needs to be child centred. not just lip service to that notion.
firstly , in terms of physical environment, children need sunshine, fresh air, good food, flowers, grass , trees . so we need to start with tearing down our drab brick buildings with small windows that don't open. we need to build schools that are organic on sites that have beautiful views, that inspire. wooden buildings or other materials which make the structure seem as though it grew out of the place. harmony. beauty. awesome.
secondly, fun, music, play, laughter, colour, art. dance......... all the good joyous activites that make us human, happily human.
gardens, pets, bikes, skate boards, and anything that promotes physical activity.
programming: anything and everything is a subject for learning . listen to what children want to learn. LISTEN to children truly LISTEN. as adults we like to preach, lecture and teach. true learning is a sharing of what we are excited about. when a child comes to you excited about something, we need to STOP and LISTEN. i stress this as i really believe we don't hear what young people are saying or thinking. we need to be mindful of ' the other' and be present for them. this act tells them they are important and what they think matters and they have good ideas that will change the world for the better.
throw the notion of "discipline" out the wndow. the old fashion idea of discipline. i am learning in my sixtieth year that discipline is not a bad thing. it doesn't mean punishment, deprivation, abuse. that discipline has more to do with boundries, respect and focus. i over eat. my appetite knows no boundries. i have to teach it to recognize fullness and satisfaction. i need to respect my body and learn to say "no" to that second piece of cake. respect garners respect.
what did miss senna teach me in her abusive behavior to me? she taught me to fear authority, to keep my mouth shut, learning to be invisible is more important that showing off what you have learned. keep your head down and keep ducking.
teachers should be carefully screened and monitored. we do not want people caring for our children, who do not love them with a passion and utter devotion to guiding them to be happy, kind , industrious, honest, loving human beings. learning is a lifetime process.it is a journey. it doesn't just belong to schools. a great teacher will inspire and appetite and love of learning. a life long gift that never ends.
as my grandchildren embark on their journey away from we who love them, i pray that they never feel less loved than they are in their homes. and that those who have them in their care, remember they are precious and like flowers they need sunshine, water and fresh air.