We're basking in summer in Morris mn

Check out the wildflowers down by the river. (B.W. photo)

Summer is here so give a cheer. I discovered that phrase in a comic book long ago, in which monster characters like Frankenstein and Dracula were schoolteachers and they were celebrating the end of the school year.

Do kids (or teachers) still feel relief when they're excused from school, as if a torture session was done? I guess we did. We should have asked more questions about why we found school so unpleasant.

Is school considered more pleasant and relevant today? I can only speculate. It seems parents demand more accountability.

I remember a co-worker who insisted her son be excused from an unpleasant classroom assignment. The kids were supposed to get up in front of the class and tell a story about something embarrassing that happened to them. "No," this mother said. "My son would just get teased."

What about the authority of teachers to direct such projects? Her comment: "I think they're working for me."

Touche.

The boomers' parents seemed quite content delegating to the teachers. Is this because so many of the men served in World War Two and felt you just had to defer to authority? I don't know, but us boomers circulated in a world in which we had to roll with the punches.

I enjoyed reading books up through elementary school. After that it seemed so many of our reading assignments veered into the oddball. I would have loved just continuing to read good stories, stories that didn't hammer into our head how unjust American life was, or have other shady political aims.

I survived all that and I hope the kids of today don't have to. "Of Mice and Men" belongs in the dumpster.

Summertime! When I was a kid, marching band was still going strong in Morris. What a different era from today. We had a director with the initials J.W. who kept the program going pretty strong until it finally started fading.

Kids seemed to develop different priorities. I might suggest summer sports camps.

Many people in music instruction feel there really isn't much enrichment in summer marching band. The kids tend to play the same tune over and over. Playing while walking limits your ability to handle your instrument in the optimum fashion.

The director comes off a little like a drill sergeant. "Wipe that smile off your face!" etc.

J.W. could kick a kid out of practice as discipline and the kid would come back. I could name names but I won't. Heck, today I'd just say "I'm going to the beach - have a nice rest of the summer."

We didn't get any school credits for this, did we?

Ol' J.W. was a little behind the times. He was a little too much of a disciplinarian. A turning point came when a female student of high standing, initials M.S., confronted him harshly in practice one day (in the band room, not during marching band). She literally shouted "that's no way to teach!"

I think she had more issues than just with the teaching. J.W. responded by immediately calling off that practice. I don't recall him responding to her in any manner. I'm not sure his brain was able to process what just happened. Ah, the generation gap.

I remember J.W. absolutely picking on a kid in the trombone section, initials J.S., for no reason I could ever see.

Boomers knew their teachers could get by being Caesars in their palaces. The boomers, at least the early boomers, also knew they could get drafted into the military and die a miserable death in an overseas jungle or swamp before their 20th birthday. The kids of today can't begin to relate to that.

I think there's far more accountability in education today. Teachers still have tenure and seniority but it seems there are pressures that serve to humble them a little more and keep them in line.

Either that, or the people entering the profession today really are more idealistic. I hope it's the latter.

Either way, we still enjoy summertime.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com