It’s time for our little ones to head to school…the Tuesday after Labor Day had been the traditional starting day for generations, but not any more. Texas schools open anywhere from mid-August to late August…by September, everyone already has a couple of weeks of classes behind them. I was listing books for my Etsy shop when I found one titled, My School. For Pink Saturday I’m sharing a children’s book from 1958 that reminds us of school days before standardized test became the focus and the measure of success.
Look at those happy pink cheeks and that sweet smile… Now let’s look at his first day of school.
A sit-down breakfast…then car pool.
And when he gets to school…
They PLAY! In fact the entire book is about playing!
Not one picture of learning to count or read, or spell.
In fact, the only appearance of the teacher is at the end when the caption reads, “Cookies and fruit juice, we have every day. the teachers all tell us, “It’s hard work to play!”
And when he heads home to his June Cleaver mom in her crisp shirtwaist dress, what does he say?
“I’ll be back tomorrow ‘cause school is such fun!”
I hope all our children still think School is Such Fun!
I hope they still can take lots of time to play!
We all certainly recognize the value of play as we visit our Pink Saturday playmates. Beverly has the group all rounded up at How Sweet the Sound so swing back ther to see the list of who is playing today. Hope your week is Pink and your Labor Day holiday is restful.
4 comments:
Hi Laverne..what a sweet little book...I enjoyed each page.
Happy Pink Saturday..Tami xo
Great book. School is fun!
It's so sad that our sweet little kiddos don't get the "play time" and socialization time that we got as kids. So much pressure to complete the newest approach to reading or latest math craze or doing this or doing that (all in the name of scoring higher...and, sadly, these things don't seem to work in attaining those scores). I feel sorry for the teachers, too! No wonder so many just walk away from the profession as soon as they can. We lose so many really good teachers way too soon because of what they have to deal with every day. Our public ed. system is out of control. .. and the more "control" that's mandated from various directions, the more of mess things become.
That sweet little book needs to be the center of an educational uprising. . .we've certainly strayed from our roots that represent a time when kids left school they could read and write and comprehend and function in the real world.
HPS!! L, dana
Hi LaVerne, Your post sure gave me a smile. If children think playing all day and then rewarded with juice and cookies is what school is all about, I shudder to think who will lead our country one day. A sweet but silly unrealistic book. Life in the 1950's was so much more different then. We learned lots in school and school WAS fun as I remember it. Our daughter teaches advanced math in HS and sometimes it is so hard because children are so undisciplined. She works so hard and has to spend hours at home grading papers. She is very dedicated though. Believe me, there are still many awesome students that makes her job worthwhile.
Happy Labor Day weekend.
Love, Jeanne
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