Gold Medal Software 3/Gold Medal Software - Volume 3 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso/bbsutils/sun9403.arj/FIC1

Text File | 1994-02-21 | 9KB | 172 lines

The Little Red Schoolhouse: A Fable?
Copyright (c) 1992, Sylvia L. Ramsey
All rights reserved



                  The Little Red Schoolhouse
                           A Fable?
                      by Sylvia L. Ramsey


     Once upon a time, there was a little red schoolhouse
that was filled with children and had only one teacher.  This
little red schoolhouse was located in the middle of a small
community.  The people who lived in this community believed
that what happened in the little red schoolhouse was an
important part of their lives, and the lives of their
children.  They felt that this was so important, that each
member of the community had a responsibility to share in the
role of seeing that it was the best it could be.  The purpose for
the little red schoolhouse was to educate children.  The
reason was to provide a better life for all of the people.
     The children were expected to learn all they could
while they were in school.  Parents kept in contact with the
teacher to know how their child was progressing.  If Johnny
and Jane were not trying their best, the parents helped to
correct the problem.  When things for the little red
schoolhouse were needed and money wasn't available , the
community pulled together to get it.  If repairs or
improvements were needed, the people of the community pitched in
and helped.  Money was not always spent to make repairs or
improvements because the people would often gather at the
school on a Saturday and do whatever was needed.
     Good manners, respect, and work ethic were the order of
the day, and these things were taught at home.  Children were
expected to behave properly at home and at school.  Parents
gave children responsibilities at home to teach them basic
life skills.  They taught their children morals, values, and
self-respect.  Parents saw that children did their school
assignments before they played.  It was understood and
believed that an education was a privilege, and a valuable
possession.  Children were taught by role models that man had a
responsibility to his fellowman, his community, and his
nation.
    The children reflected the beliefs of this community.
They knew that obtaining an education was work, but a
worthwhile pursuit.  They understood that obtaining the best
education they could get would be the key that would open
doors to a better life for all.
    Then one day, the values of the community began to
change.  The people became complacent because life was good.  The
investment they had made in their children had paid great
dividends.  The children had become inventors, scientists,
and doctors.  The children created new technologies that had
made jobs plentiful and had raised the standard of living for
everyone.  Life began to change  and everyone wanted the
things that the new technology had created.  There was an
increased demand for products and services provided by those
who did not necessarily have a higher education.  Soon these
people were receiving a larger paycheck than the people with
higher levels of education.  However, the people with these
higher levels of education were expected to continue main-
taining and improving the life style that everyone else took
for granted.
     The people quickly forgot why life was so good.  They
became more self-centered, and wanted the little red
schoolhouse to take on more and more of the responsibilities
that had once been theirs.  Finally, the little red
schoolhouse was expected to provide almost all the needs of
the children that had at one time been provided  by the
parents and the community.  They wanted to reap the rewards
of a skilled and educated society without investing any money or
effort.  They happily lived for the moment enjoying the
fruits of their ancestors' earlier investments.  They ceased
to make an investment in their children's future at the
little red schoolhouse.
     The number of people who depended on rewards of previous
investments in education had increased.  The number of
educated people had decreased.  The little red schoolhouse
was sad because the people no longer believed in it or
supported it.  The "good" life began to disappear.
     The children stopped believing in the little red
schoolhouse.  The children had too few role-models and the
little red schoolhouse could not do everything without help
and support.  The children's behavior began to reflect what
was happening.  They no longer used good manners, showed
respect for themselves or others, or believed in the work
ethic.  They no longer believed it was important to get an
education.  They began to drop-out of school at an earlier
and earlier age.  Society began to show symptoms of decay as
the instances of drug abuse, violence, and multitude of other
problems with the youth increased.  The people began to get
upset.
     The people  blamed their leaders, they blamed the
little red schoolhouse, they blamed the school board, and the
government.  They behaved like drowning men grasping at
straws in the water by grasping at any solution that was
available except the one that would save them.  They refused
to believe that what happened at the little red schoolhouse
relied on their support, on their being directly involved,
and investing in education to improve what was started long
ago.  They refused to believe that they were also responsible for
what was happening to the children.  Because the people
were not willing to do what was necessary to correct the
situation, the problems increased.
     The children stopped believing in the little red
schoolhouse.  The children had too few role-models and the
little red schoolhouse could not do everything without help
and support.  The children's behavior began to reflect what
was happening.  They no longer used good manners, showed
respect for themselves or others, or believed in the work
ethic.  They no longer believed it was important to get an
education.  They began to drop-out of school at an earlier
and earlier age.  Society began to show symptoms of decay as
the instances of drug abuse, violence, and multitude of other
problems with the youth increased.  The people began to get
upset.
     The people  blamed their leaders, they blamed the
little red schoolhouse, they blamed the school board, and the
government.  They behaved like drowning men grasping at
straws in the water by grasping at any solution that was
available except the one that would save them.  They refused
to believe that what happened at the little red schoolhouse
relied on their support, on their being directly involved,
and investing in education to improve what was started long
ago.  They refused to believe that they were also responsible for
what was happening to the children.  Because the people
were not willing to do what was necessary to correct the
situation, the problems increased.
     One day the little red schoolhouse closed its doors
because no one believed in it anymore.  Teachers became an
extinct species.  Time passed and the people begin to have
less money to buy the things that made life easier.  The
number of people who had jobs decreased.  The number of
people who lived in poverty increased.  More and more people
became homeless.  The world as the people had known it began
to change.
     Machines that made their life easier began to break
down, but no one knew how to fix them.  New ones were needed, but
no one knew how to design or build them.  People were ill and
needed doctors, but they were a vanishing breed.  Only a
few wise men were left, but they had been so ridiculed for
their preoccupation with learning that they had gone into
isolation, and no one knew where they had gone.  Various
individuals of the community tried to solve the problem, but
without success because there was no one was left who knew
how.
     The "good life" became a myth, a fairy tale, that all
the people longed for again.  However, because the people had
waited too long and did not take the steps required to change the
course in which they were headed, life did not get
better.  Eventually mankind returned to the dark ages.  The
"good life" existed only in the stories told to the children
around open fires.  These stories were about a time when the
world was full of wonderful magical, mysterious things, when
man lived in beautiful houses, had machines that did menial
work, traveled through the air, and even walked in space.
     The how and why such a wondrous world had ever existed
were gone forever.  The only thing left to remind man of a
time that had existed was an odd little red building that had been
called a schoolhouse.  No one remembered that magic had
occurred in this little red building.  No one remembered that in
the "middle age" of man on earth the people had believed
in the little red schoolhouse.  No one remembered that the
magic was the people, the community, and the little red
school house working together to create it.  No one
remembered that it took all the people working together to
produce the magic of an educated society.  The magic was
gone, only the flicker of the open firelight and the memory
of a better time remained.