School Days

How exciting! At least that's the way it seems. New clothes, new back pack, new pencils, pens, crayons, notebooks, folders, binders, rulers, and, at least for me in those days, lots and lots of those big pink erasers. Big yellow buses will cover miles and miles picking up countless numbers of children. New and hand-me-down bicycles will be used for children to transport themselves. Crossing guards will make sure they get across the thoroughfares in their neighborhoods where they would otherwise be run over by the participants in the local rat race in too big a hurry to get where ever it is they are late getting to. For others their parents will drive them or teach them at home in one of a growing number of families that have taken on the task of educating their own children. Ah, yes! Summer is over and school is starting again. And they are so excited about it. Have they lost their minds? At least that's what I used to always think in the Fall of the year. The time when days get shorter, mornings a little cooler, and the schedules get insane for any family with children. The days when waking up leisurely from a good night's sleep to a nice warm day of playing outside with one's friends and the trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house dwindle into those wonderful days of sitting inside and studying with a room full of children that are either crying because they want to go home or at least wish they were somewhere else just like you. Doesn't sound too exciting to me. Maybe that's an exaggeration based on personal experience but you may still get my point. Some children are not as excited about the starting of a new school year as others may be. I know I wasn't. I didn't really like school very much. I mean, I liked recess, and lunch, but the whole classroom and being quiet thing, not so much. Unless you know me well or have known me a long time, I have at least two degrees you probably wouldn't even believe I have. Thats the paradox of the whole thing. Me, the child in my family that cried almost every day of kindergarten and first grade, not because I was scared, but because I didn't like being there, and the one who looked for every reason possible, from a hang nail to ice on the streets, to stay home, I have college and graduate degrees. The reason is simple. I like to learn. I know that sounds contradictory to all I have said so far about school but it's true. I like to learn. I always have. I am extremely curious about most everything. I look stuff up all the time on my smartphone dictionary, encyclopedia, concordance, you name it. Something comes up in a conversation that I don't know much about, and I can't wait to get off to myself to get more information so the next time it comes up I can have something to say about it or at least know what in the world these people are talking about. I think that even those of us that dislike school the most have something in us that makes us want to learn. When you find a teacher or coach or someone in authority that can help you tap into just what that is for you, you begin to be eager to learn. That should be what school is all about. We should be looking for ways to help each child develop for themselves whatever it is that makes them eager to learn. But not just in school. It should go beyond that. We document every little thing our children learn as they grow. Their first words, first steps, first time they use a fork to put food in their mouth instead of throwing it on the floor! Milestones that are cherished and bragged about in office break rooms and on golf courses all over the country as I am writing this down this very moment. Learning shouldn't be confined to the few hours a day a child is in school. I would dare say that the most important things they need to know won't be taught to them there. I believe that the most important things I know are not tangible things taught to me in the classroom. They are intangible things about life and living that were taught to me by ministers, pastors, parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, professors, and even some crusty old cowboys. God's word speaks over and over again about the virtues of knowledge and learning. It says that one who rebels against or ignores instruction is a fool. It also tells us that if we ask for wisdom it is the one thing He will give us in abundance. A wise person will learn all they can about as much as they can. Each of us knows each of our own children better than anyone else, or we should, and if we don't, shame on us. Even though they came from the same gene pool my two daughters are as different as night and day. However, their mother took the time to figure out just what it took to switch the learning button in each of them to the "ON" position. They both excelled, but each in their own way, not some cookie cutter way designed by someone who did not know them. I deeply believe in education. It is a noble thing to strive for and a noble profession but only if it is participated in or done the right way. George Washington said and I quote, "If the Bible ever ceases to be the primary textbook in our schools, crime and mayhem will be rampant in their hallways." If we do education and learning right, school will be something that even a child like I was could get excited about. It's not supposed to be all fun and games but its supposed to make us better and give us better advantages in life. It's not meant to be for the administrators and schools to get awards. It is supposed to give the children the greatest reward possible. Knowledge! Without it they will never be able to function in the world. It's our job as parents and those other people of authority in children's lives to pick up the slack of the "intangibles" I'm talking about. God's word says that whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, we should think about such things. True and noble. Right and pure. Lovely and admirable. Excellent and praiseworthy. Now those are things to get excited about.