By Glen Jackson

"Yes sir, sonny, I remember. I remember the old schoolmaster who would shoot his gun over our heads to keep us quiet.

I remember when we had to go outside to find different bugs and animals and then have our teacher identify them for us. I see that today you have all the creatures of the earth catalogued in books. They are only names and you don't really see what they are like, but I suppose that it's better that way.

I remember fixing up electrical things around the house instead of going to school to learn about them, but I suppose that you can learn more about electricity and what to do with it at school.

The other day I was walking by the school and I looked in the parking lot. The parking lot was not only as big as our whole school lot when I was young, but one of the rows of cars parked there was worth more than our school building and all of its equipment (which wasn't much). I don't know how the kids can afford those cars, but I suppose that more education means more earnings.

The design of the school is quite a bit different from the old red‑brick schoolhouse I used to go to. The design is probably a money‑wasting eccentricity; but maybe it's better to have a little art in our lives. And besides, the freedom of design is probably a good thing too; it inspires free thinking.