Another school year has once again begun and I can't help but look back to Opie's school days in Mayberry without having a bit of sadness creep into my heart. How things have changed since Opie went to school in Mayberry.
I read in my hometown paper this week where the two elementary schools there have now officially closed their doors forever. The public school was first built when I was twelve years old, and I was in the first class to attend school there. Our high school was torn down many years ago. The other school was an adjacent parochial school where many of my best friends attended. Now the children of Dorchester, Wisconsin will be bused to a school six miles away, and they will no longer experience the wonderful joy of walking to and from school. For them an important part of Americana is gone forever. Like Opie, I was fortunate in that I was able to walk to school for ten of my twelve years of public school. The memories of those leisurely walks are still an important part of who I am. To think that so many children will no longer experience the joy of walking to school on a rainy spring morning or during a snowstorm in the middle of winter is very sad. Like Opie, I sometimes stopped at the garage where my father worked to ask for a nickel or dime so I could stop at the drug store and get a bottle of pop or an ice cream cone. I especially enjoyed walking home with my friends in the fall when we could hear the crackling of the leaves as we stepped on them on the sidewalks. There was something very special about those slow walks with my friends. We would often plan our Saturday activities as we walked together on those late afternoons so many years ago. I currently live on the same street as an elementary school. As I watch the children walk to and from school each day, it is easy to see that it is not the same as it was for Opie and me. Most of the children who walk by now have a parent or sitter walking with them to make sure they get to school safely. When the school day ends, very few walk back home. They are picked up at school by a relative or neighbor and many are taken to a day care provider where they will spend another two hours waiting for their parents to arrive. Rather than enjoying a leisurely walk home with friends, they will spend their time at a computer or other planned activity. There is no glass of milk and cookie waiting for them at home. Fortunately, we can still go back to Mayberry and watch Opie on his way home from school. We say all our changes in education are a result of progress, but I sometimes wonder if we have really progressed at all. Sometimes there are things that should not change. And I believe the small neighborhood school is just one such thing. Kenneth G. Anderson 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 715-839-8470 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
