Nicholas B. Blitva
My sisters and I were educated in the public school system in Johnstown, Pennsylvania from the late 1920s through the mid-1950s. We were part of a very multi-ethnic and culturally diverse community.
If I remember correctly, at that time the school system consisted of six years of elementary school, four years of middle school and two years of high school.
There were elementary schools within walking distance in almost every neighborhood. School buses were only used within the outlying city limits.
Most of the mothers were stay-at-home moms, which allowed us to come home every day for lunch.
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We had teams of school crossing guards on every corner near the schools. Each guard wore a white shoulder and waist sash with a silver badge, and they carried a long bamboo pole with a red “stop” flag attached to the end. We were supervised by the school director and the school caretaker. (I had the honor of being the captain of my team.
Our school year spanned 180 days, beginning the day after Labor Day in September and ending just before Memorial Day in May.
In the first three years, we were taught the three basic Rs, as well as music and art. Every six weeks, a report card was brought home for our parents to note our progress. The cards had to be signed and returned to the teacher. We also received new tablets, pencils and colored pencils. Most of us had a pencil box to carry or a zippered pencil case.
In fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, the typical day began with taking the role, followed by standing and pledging allegiance to the American flag. Then the teacher or a selected student would read a verse from the Holy Bible.
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Then came the health check. We sat down and had to put our hands palms on the desk. The teacher checked our cleanliness – hands, fingernails, neck and behind our ears. The boys had to show a clean, folded handkerchief. Periodically we had a visiting doctor or nurse. Chewing gum was absolutely forbidden.
Our main subjects were English, grammar, mathematics, history and geography. Above the blackboard were two scrolling maps – one of the United States and one of the world. We used our textbooks and followed the day’s lesson written on the board by our teacher. We were taught the Palmer method of calligraphy so we could all write legibly in cursive. The school superintendent came to each school and noted our calligraphy. He walked past each desk and made a big red checkmark of approval in the top corner of our paper.
If disciplinary action was necessary, the teacher was allowed to use a wooden paddle which was kept on the chalk tray at the blackboard. (Heaven forbid if your parents found out before you got home.) If a student was habitually late or absent, a truant officer made a home visit, and if a student failed the class at the end of the school year, he or she was retained to repeat that school year.
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The next four years were spent in one of three junior high schools. Most of us could walk or cycle while others could use public transportation using 5 cent student tokens.
Our interscholastic sports mainly included football, basketball, track and field, baseball and wrestling.
In addition to our regular subjects, the girls were taught home economics, sewing and typing while the boys were introduced to mechanical drafting, cabinet making, machine shop/sheet metal work, auto mechanics and at the printing press.
Towards the end of the eighth year, we prepared for our future plans by choosing between the academic course (Preparatory for College) which required the choice of a foreign language, French, Latin or Spanish – the commercial course, or the professional curriculum (mechanical trades).
In my class of 1953, there were 571 students. This class produced future doctors and nurses, dentists, engineers, ministers and priests, military men, social workers, and tradesmen of all types, to name but a few.
Was it a perfect world? Of course not. Like everywhere in this country, we had our socio-economic problems, with the Great Depression, a disastrous major flood of 1936, labor strikes, World War II and the Korean conflict, but we endured and we survived.
We went to school to learn and receive a formal education. In addition to the original three Rs, we learned three more – responsibility, preparation and respect.
We didn’t need or need backpacks, laptops, email, e-books, iPads, apps, Google, cell phones, Twitter, Tweets, SMS, Facebook, Video Games, Cyberschool, Homeschooling, Charter Schools, Magnetic Schools, Colleges, New Math, SAT, Teacher Unions, Astro Turf, Olympic Pools (we went to YMCA or at the YWCA), field hockey, lacrosse, football, snow days, teacher conference days, bereavement counselors (it was our parents’ responsibility), sky-high college loans, and we weren’t in drugs, tattoos, piercings or guns!
We’ve never had to go door-to-door in our neighborhoods selling candy, cookies, potholders, entertainment and meal tickets, holiday gift wrap and decorations to help pay for uniforms. group and sports, field trips or whatever.
And finally: OMG, after graduation, we could, like you know, add, subtract and like, multiply and you know, divide numbers, and like, in our heads and we could like, you know, read the time on a regular clock and like, on a, you know, wristwatch, and even, like, you know, Roman numerals too. BFF-LOL.
So I ask you, if the 6-4-2 education system wasn’t broken, why did it need to be fixed?
Nicholas B. Blitva lives in Conewago Township.
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