On the one hand, we have come a long way from the one-room schoolhouse.  When I was a student in the "good ole days," there was no kindergarten, preschool, or pre-pre-school.  We read about Dick and Jane and had many books such as Fred Gipson's Ole Yeller and Joel Chandler Harris' tales of Uncle Remus, Br'er Rabbit, and Br'er Fox read to us by our teachers. Recess was considered play time.  Field trips did not exist.  We had to use what we had without complaint. In high school, we even had to purchase our own textbooks.  Some schools actually had film rooms where students could see the classic You Are There with Walter Cronkite.  We were so excited to have that privilege!  We had to bring a typewriter from home to take a typing class and carry it around all day long.  Believe me, it was not fun carrying a 30 to 40 pound typewriter from class to class.  Though times were hard, we all seemed to get along and enjoy school.  At the end of a school day, many of us had jobs or chores and when the sun went down, people went to bed.  Few people had televisions, so we were fully awake in class. Buildings were not air-conditioned and heat came from radiators fueled by coal with a janitor or student keeping enough coal in the furnace to heat the classrooms.  Gymnasiums, often called a "cracker box," had ceilings no higher that the normal classroom height and the bleachers, if there were any, sat almost on the boundary lines.  In many cases we had to take our own lunches or go home for lunch.  Buses - better known today as "The Cheese" - were old and had no heat until the 60s.  As a high school student, I drove a bus, and no one even worried about the liability.  We did not have to take a test to graduate.  Although the curriculum was not extensive, we had been prepared to either go to work or college after graduation.

As a teacher and coach, I learned quickly how to adapt and implement programs.  In my first years, even though some considered integration to be a challenge, I never had any problems, other than working to restart programs that had been shut down as a result of it.  I have begun baseball programs for high school and little league, proms for juniors and seniors, encouraged restarting yearbook publications, etc.  I have had to take many athletes home after practice or a game ruining my own personal vehicle in the process.  In the classroom, the students respected my position automatically.  Discipline problems hardly existed.  Students did not have to be entertained.  We did not have the technology that we have today, so the students were excited to watch a film on any subject.  They did not try to sleep in class.  Profanity, inappropriate dress, and weapons on campus were nonexistent.  School was a priority for students, instead of working to pay for an automobile.  Corporal punishment was allowed without question.  I chaperoned many dances without incidence.  Parents usually supported and respected the school and the choices made by the administration, the teacher, the coach, etc.  The school curriculum was basically the same as when I was a student.

As an administrator in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, more changes and priorities have taken place than I could have ever imagined.  Testing has become a priority over all else on all grade levels.  Curriculums have continued to change almost yearly with distant learning classes, more requirements in content areas, etc. From the Exit Exam, the AHSGE, and NCLB; the number of Carnegie units required for graduation; the types of diplomas being offered; the special education and gifted guidelines; and the curriculum are only a few of the changes that I have experienced.  Dress codes for teachers and students, anger management, racial and sexual harassment, students with very special needs, learning styles, school improvement, and professional development are obstacles we have faced and continue to face on a day to day basis.  Technology is changing so quickly that we are being trained continuously to keep up with the world around us.  Whoever thought that a cell telephone could ever create the problems that they have?  Teen pregnancy, broken homes, drug use, politics, and the list can go on and on.  What will be next?

With all the changes and seeming improvements, I wonder if we have missed the target - the student.  Education should go beyond what is taught in the classroom.  Every area of education has become so specialized that children in elementary school are not allowed to be children.  Schools are becoming so large that the individual is being lost in the masses.  Counselors are so overloaded with testing that they do not have time to counsel with individual students.  I chose education as a profession to teach and work with the student.  I am so afraid that the individual student has been taken out of the educational process.  As Alabama approaches 160 years of public education, we need to be reminded that the focus should be on the children.  As societal expectations grow along with school calendars, and athletic and academic requirements, we should remember that children still need to be children - - and sometimes less is more!