Back to school ain't what it used to be
By Brent E. McCoy thereal@roadrunner.com

I hope that all of the overjoyed parents in Moorpark have recovered from the return of another school year. This was the last time that I had to send one of my kids off to a Moorpark school. Both my son and daughter have spent there entire secondary educational years in Moorpark, but since my daughter has begun her senior year at Moorpark High School, this era is about to come to an end for us. At least I hope we don't have to send her off to the high school again next year.

I can't help but think about the differences between school today and when I attended. I remember how proud my parents looked when they reassured me that it would be only four more years until I would go to college. This was, however, a little discouraging to me since my high school was grades 10-12 (three years). I made it out in three years.

One thing that really strikes me is the ease of communication these days. If we wanted to communicate with each other in class, we had to pass notes. There was no instant messaging or text messaging. There was always the risk of getting caught and possibly having your note read out loud to the class. In other words, to a teenager, this was a terrific challenge and a terrific opportunity.

I had one teacher who would grade intercepted notes for grammar and enter the grade in the book. These were usually my notes, and the grades were usually bad. The superb spelling, grammar and punctuation in these articles are the result of those other than this humble writer.

Once, just for a laugh, I openly passed a note containing the first few lines of Hamlet's soliloquy. The note was intercepted, and this teacher asked me if I had written it. I said no. She asked if I knew who did write it. I replied, "I think it was Shakespeare." Now, before any students decide to try this, I'll point out that I was rewarded for my clever effort with an offer to stay an hour after school for a spirited discussion on iambic pentameter- you may need to ask an eighth- or ninth-grader for help on that. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

It is encouraging to see that the schools are taking a more active role in good eating habits. This is not to be confused with what we called nutrition. It's encouraging but only because I'm now a parent. I don't think we would have stood for this sort of thing as students. In fact, I can't recall anything we could buy at school that wasn't usually filled or covered with cheese or sugar except the apples- those were filled with worms and covered with bruises. We didn't have all of these energy drinks that they do now. Those are one thing I wish they didn't have today.

There has been a marked increase in accidents caused by students driving and mindlessly dialing, talking or texting on the phone. There are new laws that aim to eliminate this. But I'm afraid the best we can hope for is that students will revert back to what we all did before these new devices. We had our teenage accidents while just mindlessly driving.

Parents can now go online and access student records and communicate with the teachers and staff. This sounds like a good idea until you realize that we're giving this power to people who didn't grow up with the computer, people who have created a booming computer repair industry by getting the paper clips they use for e-mail attachments stuck in the popout cup holder on the computer. For your information, the cup holder can also be used to read CDs and DVDs.

Increased communication can only be a good thing. For example, I know many of the students are in favor of the new teacher collaboration time despite the fact that school will have to start one hour late one day a week.

It's quite a bit different now than it was. But there is no doubt that it's better now.