School is out

I recently received several graduation announcements and have forwarded appropriate cards and gifts. As I was completing these tasks my mind wandered back to many May days from my own past and my recollections of when “school was out.”

My earliest memories took place at Jefferson School, where I attended my first four grades. Those memories are quite vague all these many decades later but some occurrences remain clear.

We didn’t have any class work that day. We played several games both inside and on the playground and as you can imagine, we truly enjoyed that type of school day.

Near the middle of the day, grades one through six were lined up and marched in a single group to Davis Park, which was located two blocks to the east – (of note here: Centennial Boulevard did not exist in those days. Highway 54 ran along the west side of Jefferson on the same road that leads to the 54 Cafe, which had not been built at that time).

More games and activities followed at the park and at noon we were all given a sack lunch instead of going back to the cafeteria. In those days, milk was a part of every lunch menu at every level of the R-5 District but on special occasions like this we received chocolate milk. There is something about chocolate milk and being so young because I thought it was so much better than plain milk.

Once school was over, we had a full three months of summer vacation. There was no summer school and no formal school related activities. When school was out it was OUT! The next organized activity was when two-a-day football practices started, which did not begin for high schools in Missouri until Aug. 15 each summer.

Some experts profess the theory that it is necessary to educate kids on a year round basis, instead of having the old-fashioned summer break. I have always been a bit suspicious of that premise. I thought we were very well educated in that school calendar system. I think the best example or evidence of that conclusion would be the space race of the ‘60s. An entire generation of scientists who had been educated under this school calendar system was mandated to plan and successfully land men on the moon in just over eight years from the time President Kennedy issued the challenge. Those same scientists managed for the most part to complete that task with slide rules (which they had leaned to use in those same nine month schools) not computers.

In my high school years the end of school included several required tasks. We had a lot of finish work such as checking in textbooks, cleaning out lockers and returning our locker combination locks.

Seniors did not get out of school a week early as they do now. We actually attended classes, right up to the last day and the last hour. Graduation was always early the next day on Saturday morning in a very hot gym with no air conditioning.

About the only purchases we made as seniors included letter jackets and class rings, if we chose to buy them. Caps and gowns for graduation were furnished, and we had to turn them in right after the ceremony. High School Principal Garland Keithly led us directly from the gym to the school cafeteria, where he checked your name off his list as you handed him your cap and gown. I think we might have been allowed to keep the tassels from our caps as mementos. It staggers my imagination to see how much we ask our seniors to spend on a variety of items in this modern era.

Two events led off the last week of school each year at NHS. Monday was always “Sign Night,” which was when you received your Nevamo yearbook. The gym was filled that night with all the kids from grades 7-12. Everyone took turns signing each of our friends cover pages and we enjoyed sitting in groups scanning the pages.

Tuesday was always senior trip/skip day. In those days the traditional trip was to Rockaway Beach, which was located just north and east of present day Branson. This was a traditional spot for senior trips and there were a lot of amusement rides.

Looking back now that trip doesn’t seem like such a big deal in comparison to what trips are like now but we thought it was really special. There was joy and also a bit of forlornness as it dawned upon us, that we were spending our last days with each other as students. There was a new world that lay ahead and it was both exciting and a bit daunting.

In just a few weeks my graduating class will gather to celebrate our 50-year reunion. Again, we will experience both joy and sadness. It is wonderful to see those faces from years past once more but we also recognize and honor the many classmates we have lost.

My final thoughts on the end of the current school year concern today’s students. Unlike the days from my youth these kids will have many summer activities. While I am not opposed to such offerings, I sometimes feel that there is a bit of “overkill.”

Rest and relaxation is cited by most sociologists and psychologists as a needed period of decompression from stress relating to work, combat, and other intense life endeavors. It has been my belief for many years now that our school kids need some of that same R&R.

Not everything in a kid’s life needs to be planned, regulated and supervised. Sometimes kids just need to be left alone to do childish things with their friends. More and more we hear of the term “burned out.” I propose we let school end and let summer break begin for REAL!