The "old" school....

Old school...that's what younger generation calls it whenever we bring up something that we used to do before, right? Yes, I am from 'old school'. Let me tell you this, I loved school. I didn't attend regular school until I was almost 8 years old and that's solely because my birthday was a day later than the cut-off date to be accepted to the first grade. That meant I had to wait one whole school year to get so I was really 'gung-ho' when I was finally accepted. I guess that fueled my love for going to school. How much did I love it back then? I would cry whenever it was time for summer vacation. Odd, eh? Also, I had a great time with my classmates and school mates. There was no need for bullying prevention back then because bullying was non-existent during that time. There were rough playing in the playgrounds but nothing that could be considered as bullying. Now that I think about it, I don't think I even heard of 'school bullying' until a few years ago.

I'm not saying my school days were perfect because they weren't. There were plenty of fights alright, but it's just kids being kids. Playground fights as we called them then and none could be considered 'life threatening'. I'm not sure what happened between then and now but it's alarming to think what kind of world our future generation will live in if kids can't even feel safe in a place where they should be learning right and wrong. Schools used to be a place where kids can find comfort, solace and security and not a place of fear. I'm sure that is still the case in some schools. I just hope that one day, kids will again feel that going to school is a fun thing and not a scary thing to do because I would hate for my grand kids to be deprived of the great experience I had when I was still going to school.