excerpt
A Day in School
A DAY IN SCHOOL In the preceding chapter I blended the school environment into
the farming community. The blending reflects the reality of
the times, since formal education was not as significant in the
overall process of raising children born to farming parents as it is
now. In the farming community of that era, many a young man
reached his 16th birthday without achieving much formal education,
as he was frequently needed at home to assist in the survival
of the family farm. School was part of the community but secondary
to the immediate needs of the farmers. The first priority was
the welfare of the family, and the teachers and school board members
were well aware of these realities.
I expect that there were certain rules regarding attendance, and
teachers were likely obliged to report to the school board if any
student had a particularly poor attendance record. On the other
hand, attendance did not guarantee educational progress and if
there was obvious negligence on the part of the student, whether
the fault was his or his parents, there was not much a teacher
could do except try and demonstrate to the individual the value of
an education later on in life. Notwithstanding, school was of secondary
importance to many families, as the boys would remain on
the farm when they finished whatever formal education they
were interested in getting.
I have already mentioned that our parents, father in particular,
had a different perspective on education. He enjoyed cerebral activity
and insisted that we attend school regularly and study hard.
Because I did well in school, attendance was a relatively pleasant
part of my life. Sure it interfered with perfect spring or fall days
when the outdoors stared at me through the school window and…
Manolis Aligizakis 