Wonderful Elementary School Small Group Social Skills Daily: Fill & Download for Free

Top Early Childhood Education Degree JobsNow that you know what an ECE degree entails, you might be wondering, “What can I do with an early childhood education degree?” Outlined below are some of the top early childhood education jobs. Take a look at the educational requirements, a summary of responsibilities, and the average salary for each occupation to see which is right for you.Preschool TeacherAverage Salary: $29,780 per yearEducational Requirements: Associate’s degree in early childhood education or related fieldWhere you work: Daycare services, state, local, or private schools, private homes, religious institutions, grantmaking organizations, civic centersWhat Does a Preschool Teacher Do?Preschool teachers are tasked with administering the fundamental lessons associated with early childhood education that help bring their students up to developmental standards. Day-to-day activities in this position include working with young children both individually and in a group setting, tracking the progress of each student, organizing entertaining educational activities, and creating daily schedules. Early educators can use a child’s desire to play and be active as an advantage in the learning processTraditional academic education is not all a preschool teacher must focus on. Some emotional and social education takes place in a preschool setting, as well. At this early stage, educators use team exercises to improve social skills, but also to teach lessons on inclusion and respect.Kindergarten and Elementary School TeacherAverage Salary: $57,980 per yearEducational Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in early childhood educationWhere you work: Public and Private Elementary schools, Child Day Care Services, charter schools, religious-based schoolsWhat Does a Kindergarten Teacher Do?Many daily responsibilities of kindergarten and elementary school teachers mirror those of a preschool teacher. They put together lesson plans, daily schedules for class, and track the progress of their students. The emotional and social lessons continue to play a large role in this position. By this stage of education, some of these responsibilities become more complex as the students build upon the foundational knowledge they learned in preschool.There are a few major differences between the two occupations. Preschool tends to take place in one classroom where the students learn, play, rest, and eat. They may move to a lunchroom or an outdoor play area, but kindergarten and elementary school students move around much more in during the day. These students frequently move to different classes for different lessons, head to the lunchroom to eat, go outside for recess, and participate in field trips. A high level of supervision is required of teachers at this stage of schooling. Also, teachers entering this occupation can expect to work at a private or public school. A very small percentage are employed by daycare services.NannyAverage Salary: Minimum wage - $18 per hourEducational Requirements: Vary based on state, employer, and workplaceWhere you work: Private homesWhat Does a Nanny Do?Nannying is an occupation that varies greatly based on the employer. Every child and every family have different needs when it comes to childcare. In the simplest description, nannies must provide attentive, warm care to the children they are tasked with looking after. That may entail simple supervision and care in an employer’s private home, but nannies are often given additional responsibilities. For example, nannies may also be expected to bring children to and from events, do some food shopping for them, and even make sure the house remains clean and organized while the employers are indisposed.One thing that sets this job apart from others on the list is that nannying can be a live-in position. Some employers need someone to live in their private home or on the property that can be available to take care of their children at any time. Live-in nannies may look after children from the moment they wake up to when they’re tucked in at night. Be sure to take into account the variance in responsibilities, salary, and educational requirements associated with nannying.What’s the Difference Between a Babysitter and a Nanny?The difference between a babysitter and a nanny is not always clear. Each position features similar daily duties and childcare expectation. The easiest way to differentiate the two is that nannying is more likely to be a regular, full-time position. Often, babysitters are informally used as needed for an agreed-upon hourly or flat rate. On the other hand, nannies are almost always regularly employed, full-time or part-time. They are formally paid at an agreed-upon hourly rate, and all necessary employment and tax paperwork must be taken care of. The more formal nature of nannying usually goes hand-in-hand with additional duties like cooking, shopping, or cleaning for employers.Childcare Center DirectorAverage Salary: $47,940 per yearEducational Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in early childhood educationWhere you work: Child daycare services, grantmaking organizations, civic centers, religious institutions, and state, local, or private schoolsWhat Does a Childcare Center Director Do?Preschool and Childcare center directors work a step back from the classroom, and they focus on the bigger picture of managing an early childhood education center. Directors supervise teachers and other employees of the center. They hire new educators, influence daily curricula and academic standards for students, allocate funds, communicate with parents, and ensure that their institution is up to health and safety standards.Some directors own the center that they direct while others are employed by the owner, or by the executive directors of an educational chain or franchise. If a director is employed by an outside entity, they must effectively communicate with that entity and run the center according to their policies and goals. If the owner is also the director, the center can be managed in whatever way they see fit. The position is much less hands-on with students and much more administrative.Childcare WorkerAverage Salary: $23,240 per yearEducational Requirements: High school diploma or equivalentWhere you work: Childcare centers, their own home, private homesWhat Does a Childcare Worker Do?Interestingly, childcare workers share many responsibilities with preschool teachers, but they exist outside of the traditional classroom. Childcare workers look after children, create schedules around education, play, and nourishment, introduce children to basic concepts, and help prepare them for the next level of education, usually kindergarten. They help children build social relationships with others, and they teach activities art or dance that may grab the interest of the children in their care. Sometimes childcare workers communicate with the teachers of children they work with to focus on specific lessons or skills that need improvement.Childcare workers do not only work with children in preschool. Individuals in this occupation may also work with older children before and/or after school. In this situation, childcare workers would be helping with homework or other facets of the curriculum being taught during the school day. Some childcare workers are even employed over the summer to continue the education of participating children.Special Education TeacherAverage Salary: $59,780 per yearEducational Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in special education or related fieldWhere you work: Public, private, charter, or religious-based schoolsWhat Does a Special Education Teacher Do?Special education teachers work with students who have mental, emotional, physical, or learning disabilities. This profession is not relegated to early childhood education. Individuals with sufficient degrees and certifications in special education can work with students from preschool all the way through high school. These educators have quite an array of daily responsibilities and they can change based on the capabilities of the student they are assisting. Generally, special education teachers must assess and reassess their students’ skills, determine their educational needs, discuss students’ educational progress with parents and other school staff, and plan activities catered toward their students’ specific abilities. Special education teachers are pivotal in progressing their students’ education and guiding their transition from grade to grade.The Individualized Educational Program (IEP) is the cornerstone of a special education teacher’s responsibilities. It’s the formalized plan discussed with parents, fellow teachers, and administrators that is updated and designed to effectively educate every individual special education student. Special education teachers must be able to create efficient and practical IEPs to be successful, no matter the age of their students.School Counselor or PsychologistAverage Salary: $56,310 per yearEducational Requirements: Master’s degree in school counseling or related fieldWhere you work: Private, public, charter, and religious-based schools, healthcare and social assistance organizations, other educational servicesWhat does a School Counselor Do?If you’re wondering, “what can you do with an early childhood education degree besides teach?,” don’t worry, there are many job opportunities for you to work with children outside of the classroom. For example, school counselors help students with academic and social skills needed to succeed academically. These are skills not normally taught in a classroom environment, like how to study or manage time effectively. School counselors will meet with students individually or in small groups and identify where they could use some help. They try to identify issues that impede on the academic success of individual students and help remedy those issues. Usually, counselors will collaborate with students, teachers, and parents to solve these problems. Counselors are also tasked with teaching students and staff about sensitive issues like drug abuse and bullying.This is another occupation that is not relegated to early childhood, and the responsibilities differ based on the age group being counseled. A school counselor hired by an elementary school would be working with younger children, and their needs are much different from those of their high school counterparts. This early age group would most likely learn about decision making, time management, and appropriate social behavior from their counselors.

*Edited to add details that answer some questions in the comments*After nearly 14 years as a married man, right now I’m in the midst of the one and only extramarital affair I’ve ever had in the only marriage I’ve ever known. I’m in my early 40’s and never thought I would be “that guy”. The affair has only been going on for a couple of weeks, but shows no signs of stopping. My mistress is also married, and to a guy who currently lives in a completely different place due to their current jobs, so we are in an ideal situation to keep the secret. I’m away for a long term work trip, but this entire situation has nothing to do with being without sex for an extended period. The trip is just getting going, I have months left on it, have been gone longer previously, and I really, REALLY didn’t want it to come to this. It’s much more complicated than pure sexual desire. The experience has absolutely helped me get back a great deal of self-esteem and escape a lingering depression. More on that later.The root of this affair stretches back the better part of a decade, after my wife and I had our second child. He was a very difficult infant who had sleeping issues, colic and was generally very challenging. The constant work to care for him cast my wife into a 3-year bout with postpartum depression that took a heavy toll on both of us, and severely impacted her libido. I was extremely supportive and sympathetic to her plight as a mom during that time as she stayed home full time to care for him, but we fought a lot during this time. We stuck it out, and while the worst of her depression eventually subsided, her libido and desire to be with me never came back. She became extremely angry and negative regarding seemingly everything in our lives, which exacerbated the problem on my end and made me dislike being home very much. Over the years, I stayed in great shape while she put on some weight, but that never deterred my desire for her. I just want her to want me back, but it seems like a lost cause.For years, I would go on long-term work trips, thwarting advances from other, very attractive women of all ages and staying faithful to my wife. I never wanted to be the one to drive that wedge or exploit my isolation, no matter how bad things got. I did this, only to return home to a woman who was always bitter and I had to beg many times for intimacy only to be incessantly rejected. The excuses are all too common: “I’m tired; work was tough today; the kids are probably awake; I have a headache; I’ll be up in a little bit [never comes upstairs until I fall asleep]; etc.” When we finally do have sex, it’s completely transactional, and she’s never the initiator. It’s obvious that it’s purely a peacekeeping tactic and not something that she really wants.When asked what I could do to help her reignite her inner flame, she tells me that more help around the house and with the kids would do wonders, but she scuttles any attempts made to do just that, saying that I don’t know how she wants things done, not to waste money on a maid, etc. We’ve talked about her letting the chores go in order to de-stress and the importance of putting herself ahead of all of that, but she refuses. It’s like the stress gives her validation that she’s needed, and there’s no talking her down. Depression, in general, runs in her family, and she did go on medication, but that only does so much. You have to want to get better and the sad reality is that’s not the case. It’s a hopeless, wild goose chase to get her affection back. It’s become unquestionably obvious that the woman who used to attack me for an unexpected, afternoon tryst died a long time ago and is possibly/probably never coming back.I would leave home feeling demoralized, depressed, utterly trapped, and completely emasculated by the constant rejection from the woman who I married, but who no longer sees me as desirable. I began to let myself go and put on 20 lbs. this past year, no longer seeing a point in working so hard to keep it together. She swears that her apathy for intimacy has nothing to do with me, and that once the stress of raising the kids is out of the way, she’ll come back to form. If our youngest theoretically leaves the home at exactly 18 years old, I’ll be in my early 50’s by that point and facing nearly 20 years of disinterest…that’s ridiculous and unreasonable by any measure.Enter this latest work trip: after calling back home multiple times only to hear the same, negative outlook that I left behind, I finally snapped in a rage of resentment. I’m thousands of miles away, on the other side of the planet, with no direct way to help her with her problems, but have to suffer for them nonetheless. Nothing was going to change anytime soon.This was not a spur of the moment decision to fool around with a random girl one sultry night. It was deliberate and premediated. I was in anguish - a grown man alone in a hotel room with tears rolling down his face - over the conscious realization that I had wasted nearly 10 good years of my life beating a dead horse, and it was time that I’d never get back. The sadness quickly turned into anger. A non-negotiable drive to have an affair materialized out of thin air and I was hell bent on making it happen. If she was content to cast me aside, I was now more than happy to let someone else pick me back up. I hit the gym hard for the rest of month and got back into extremely good shape, now brimming with swagger and a steel-hardened physique.It started with a night out at a bar - wedding band left strategically back at the hotel - and a kiss stolen by a much younger girl for whom I casually bought a drink. Out of the blue, she kissed me sweetly for a few seconds and darted off like an embarrassed school girl. The entire exchange literally lasted just a few seconds, but that very small, very cute, gesture from a girl who was probably half my age gave back a shred of the dignity and confidence I’d lost for a very long time.By the next weekend, I was off to a different place with some friends made earlier in the trip and was immediately approached by a woman (a mutual friend of theirs), 11 years my senior, in her early 50’s, who is extremely sexy and forward. You see, an attraction like this isn’t about the hot, young biddy; it’s about the biddy *who is hot*. She wasn’t playing games. Her clear desire, relentlessness, and transparent intent was intoxicating and inescapable. She came after me like a hungry shark and I didn’t resist her advances in the least. We danced, made obvious passes at each other, copped a few feels when our friends weren’t looking, and slipped outside behind a random, parked car to make out shortly thereafter. By this point, we both knew beyond any doubt how this evening was going to end.We eventually retired to a hotel that she had booked before we even left our friends for the night for what was arguably the hottest night of my life. Both of us arrived at the room well aware that we were individually married, yet didn’t hesitate to have sex an uncountable number of times, well into the next morning. I walked past a full-length mirror while collecting my clothes from the floor and noticed yellowing bands across my thighs, the start of bruises that were forming from the relentless pounding we gave each other over the preceding hours. Wow. You know you made the most of the experience when it’s well past check-out time and the hotel staff has to call upstairs to ask you to leave…talk about an obvious walk of shame. We left that hotel room that next afternoon with no luggage and looking completely disheveled on the way out. I relished every moment of it.We’ve met and spent the night together numerous times since the first encounter. She is extremely intelligent, financially well set in her own line of work (better than me, and I make a damned good living), very pretty and sexually charged up to a level that’s been missing from my life for years. We waste absolutely no time getting down to business when we’re near each other. No BS. No contrived courtship. We both know why we’re there. When I asked her why she even bothered to get in touch with me after that first night, she says that she admires my intelligence, realism and that, “well, you’re a hotty”. It’s amazing. It’s exciting. It’s uplifting. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered to feel human again and shed the deep depression that swallowed me up due to the constant negativity and rejection at home. Oh, and our friends who introduced us? They still have no idea that anything happened on that first night, let alone that we still meet up regularly.The crazy thing is, I view this for exactly what it is - a limited experience that will only last a few months, and will hopefully buy my wife more time to figure herself out. I truly don’t want to leave her. Having this calculated affair has quelled much of the anger and sadness that built up inside over the years, and given me the opportunity to offer more patience at home.Make no mistake: I still love my wife and want her to recover what she has lost inside, as well, but I can’t waste away forever waiting indefinitely as my youth and life slip away. My mistress is completely aware of this outlook, and seems very much at peace with it. Nobody knows how this will feel down the line, but if I said that I regret anything that has happened thus far, it would be a lie. The whole thing has been incredible. After many fruitless years of trying to decipher and address my spouse’s unhappiness, ultimately to my own detriment, I feel exactly zero guilt about it.**ADDED April 3, 2020: I was actually pretty blown away that some people expected me to detail my interaction with my kids in a post regarding an affair. The insinuation is that because my wife and I have lingering issues leading up to this that I must be an awful dad who doesn’t care about his kids. That seems pretty morbid and out of place, and my initial instinct is tell those folks to f*** themselves, but you know what? Maybe it will help humanize the situation, so, I’ll play along to a limited extent.The one place my wife and I are in absolute sync is our children’s upbringing. She handles most of the help with homework and daily academic tasks while I help primarily help with sports, big trips/life experiences and activities support. In fact, I’ve saved up a bunch of cash to take us all overseas for an extended family trip next year to give everyone some relaxation and some world perspective. It’s been an effective system. I would hard-pressed to find a time when we have had any notable disagreement about what’s best for them or how to execute.When our son went from the issues in his infancy to some minor maturity issue in elementary school, we spoke about it and hatched a good plan to get him sorted out. We contacted psychologists and counselors to get him tested and ensure there were no underlying cognitive, social or learning disabilities. We looked at alternative ways to get him interested in school subjects and socialization. It worked wonders, and he’s now showing precocious capability in math and science that his teacher has pointed out as placing him well above his peer group. His natural skill set and academic path is totally foreign to mom and dad, as both of us struggled with numbers at his age and excel verbally. We are, nonetheless, thrilled to see him grow within his niche despite some early growing pains.Our older child, our daughter, is a middle school student on the cusp of becoming teenager. She is (and always has been) an absolute machine, completely self-motivated and driven, showing a breadth of talent and interests, from music, to history, to science, to writing, to sports and beyond. She was a little bit chubby going into middle school and made dedicated decisions about her diet and exercise - all on her own - to get in shape and help her own cause, all without becoming weight-obsessed. She’s an honor roll student, been inducted into National Junior Honor Society, and has a completely formulated of vision of her life mapped out. She knows where she wants to go to college and what she wants to do for a living. We know that life isn’t that simple and things don’t always pan out the way we expect, but the fact she has the focus tells us that she’s headed for big things.While my wife has her issues with depression and a clear inability to show romantic affection toward me anymore, I can’t knock her at all for her efforts as a mom. Yeah, I’ve had to give her some heat for occasionally letting her anger and negativity out on the kids (I’m not the only one in the house that gets hit with it), but her overall willingness to work with me for their betterment? You won’t hear a peep from me on that. But I think it also speaks to how we got to this point.The notion of being totally dedicated to your kids sounds great on paper, but it also implies that you don’t have to leave any space in your life for your spouse. Once you totally ignore the needs of your other half on account of only caring about the kids, you’re on the clock for a very negative outcome that can and will crush what you thought would be best for the little ones. You can stomp your feet, gnash your teeth and tell me over and over that what I did was wrong. The fact remains: nobody can exhibit endless loyalty, supporting you and you desires, while being otherwise ignored. Nobody. Everyone, not just women, should use this entire post as a cautionary for what happens when you let things go that way.

I was in the class of ‘88.It felt big and intimidating, compared to my previous school experience. The learning routine hadn’t changed from what it was in the previous generation. A lot of our homework was reading assignments out of textbooks, which took a lot of time for me. The reason being that I could read something, and it would pass out of my mind, such that if I was quizzed/tested on it, I’d draw a blank for most of the questions. So, I had to work at somehow making it stick. It really wasn’t a pleasant experience. I was always behind in my reading. In hindsight, I think it was because I didn’t have a sense of relevance: “Why am I learning about this?” In times when I’ve been really interested in a subject, if I read something related to it, I had no trouble retaining what I read. I think what really happened is I’d get bored with the subject, and my brain would turn off, refusing to retain any of it.We’d go to lecture sessions where our teacher would either communicate most everything orally, or write in detail on the chalkboard. Sometimes they’d write so little on the chalkboard, it was difficult to understand how much of what they said should be in my notes, and what I could just listen to. Sometimes they were so bad at writing on the chalkboard that it just looked like scribbles.Math was the only kind of homework that required me to think. There was a lot of memorization in my homework, generally, though there was some attempt in math and science to communicate understanding of the material. The one exception was in physics, which I resented. (I talked more about this at When was the first time you realized that a teacher cannot always be right?)Classes were structured differently depending on the subject, and who taught them. Some classes had weekly quizzes, and then mid-term and final tests. Some had few or no quizzes, but still had the tests. Just about every class I had had daily or weekly assignments of some sort, even if it was just reading.We had art classes we could take. Some students took painting or drawing, or they’d go into band, or glee club. I went into orchestra. I had been playing the violin in orchestra since Jr. high school. There were no assignments there. Just practice on our own time, with the expectation that we would do occasional concerts in front of a live audience (ie. our parents). Though I was not dedicated to learning to play well, it was a wonderful experience. It didn’t seem to matter that much, because the collective sound of everyone playing was like being in the “midst of music,” and it was beautiful. I usually thought we did “okay” in public performances, but our parents always thought we sounded great. I’m tempted to say, “What else would they say?” What are you going to tell your own kid, “You sounded terrible tonight”? Maybe we had really high expectations of ourselves, and our parents just couldn’t tell the difference, because they weren’t close in to where the music was being made, where you could hear every mistake.The day was divided up into periods for each class. There was also a lunch period, and many students like myself would have a “free” period, where we had no class scheduled. One year or another I was lucky, and was able to schedule my “free” period at the beginning or end of the school day, so I could come in later, or leave early. :) Usually, though, I’d hang out in the computer lab for that, and work on my own programming projects.We had after school clubs that we could participate in. They were not for credit. We also had varsity sports for soccer, volleyball, softball, and football (maybe more).One year I participated in the thespian club for performing arts. That was fun, but realized at the end of it that it wasn’t for me. Every year the thespian club would put on a play. The production was pretty involved, but of course, since the kids were the actors, it wasn’t like going to a production you’d pay money to see. I didn’t see any talented kids that really stood out in child acting, but still, the productions were fun to watch. The experience for these budding actors was what counted.As I recall, there was a science and math club.The computer club participated in the American Computer Science League (ACSL) competition, and I participated in it every year. We’d get study materials from ACSL, bare basic computer science concepts, and we’d have weekly written or programming tests. The programming tests allowed us to use whatever programming language we wanted. A couple years we scored well enough to go to the national finals. Raising money for the trip was always a tense subject, and each time we had to consider the possibility that we wouldn’t be able to go, but we managed to do it each time. As I recall, our club sponsor ended up putting a large portion of the bill on her own credit card. To this day I feel thankful for what she did for us.One year, I was invited to be part of the Talented And Gifted (TAG) program. So, I’d spend my free period doing that. They tried a few things with me. One was teaching a programming class to a small group of elementary school students in another school. I did that for a couple months once or twice a week. Mostly what I did with TAG was help students with their math homework. It wasn’t very well structured. There was no understanding behind what TAG was doing, where the students were at, who were needing help. They’d put students together, those they thought had skill, and those that didn’t, and hoped for the best. I was always happy to see students I was helping catch on, but I felt sorry for wasting the time of the students who didn’t have the necessary background to really receive my help, though they always seemed thankful. They were taking the classes I took, but they were not picking up on the material, and there was no way the time they spent with me was going to help them, because they had no grasp of the basics they needed by the time they came to TAG for help. They needed a remedial class.I also became a teacher’s assistant at some point. I helped a former English Literature teacher of mine grade multiple-choice tests.High school was where using a word processor for writing papers started becoming a regular thing for me. Before that, I wrote papers in cursive in a spiral-bound notebook, or I used my mom’s portable manual typewriter. The English department got a computer lab just for itself, full of Macintosh Pluses, where we would use MacWrite, and print our papers out using high-resolution Apple dot-matrix printers.I knew only one student in the whole school who brought a computer to class, an Apple IIc. It was a pretty odd, but enterprising thing to do. He carried it around in a protective case that was the size of a small briefcase. He had a monochrome flat-panel screen that could be propped up on top of the computer case (though it was not a full-height display), and the whole thing would just fit on top of a classroom desk. While the teacher lectured, he would be typing away on it, taking notes.Calculators were just starting to be accepted into math classes. Some teachers allowed them, some didn’t. You had to ask. The broad consensus was that calculators did the thinking for the students, which detracted from the educational experience, so they would not be allowed.A neighbor gave me a TI-58 programmable calculator. I remember using it in at least one of my math classes. I asked the teacher whether I could use it, and she was fine with it. The other kids in class picked up on the fact that I was using it to solve problems, and complained a bit. A few of them had calculators, but they were 4-function, or scientific calculators, neither of which were programmable. I’d use my programs during tests. The hard thing was I had to anticipate what the test would be on, and I’d have to program the calculator with what I thought would be relevant solvers the evening before, or in the morning, before I went to school. It didn’t have much memory (it couldn’t hold all the programs I had written for it), and it didn’t have persistent memory. It would only remember its programming while it was switched on, so I had to be sure that its battery was fully charged before I left for school. I’d leave it on until I got through math class. It had an LED display, which went through the battery fairly quickly. If I left it on for a day or two, it would completely drain the battery. Another thing was I had to remember how to call up each program. In a couple cases I had about 8–10 in there, and I had to spend time memorizing what keys to press on the calculator to call up the correct one, since we weren’t allowed to have any of our own papers on our desks during tests, to avoid cheating.When other students complained about me using it, saying I had an unfair advantage, my teacher asked me, “You programmed it yourself, right?” I said yes. If anyone asked, I could show them the programs I wrote, and how they worked. She said, “Well, that means you understand how to solve those problems,” and that’s all that mattered to her. She understood this a lot better than most other math teachers I’d had.I don’t remember all the classes I took. I was on a college track. This is what I remember, in no particular order:GeometryBiologyFrenchAmerican HistoryEnglish LiteraturePublic SpeakingHealthremedial Algebra II (Algebra I was in Jr. high)Phys. Ed.MythologySocial StudiesChemistryWorld HistoryOrchestraTrigonometryAlgebra III (pre-calculus)PhysicsControversiesI noticed one of the other answers mentioned bomb threats. We had some of those. Usually what would happen is someone would pull the fire alarm, and we’d all have to evacuate. Sometimes it was a planned fire drill, but there were many times when it wasn’t. Some prankster would pull the fire alarm, and we’d all get to spend some time outside, until the false alarm was called. I seem to remember there were several bomb threats during my 3 years of high school. Almost all of them were called in. Someone would call the school, saying there was a bomb set to go off somewhere in the school. The fire alarm would be pulled, and we’d evacuate. Everything would be checked, and no bomb. So, we’d all go back inside. One incident was more serious. Someone found what looked like a pipe bomb sitting on a toilet; a tube with a bunch of wires coming out of it. In that case, we not only evacuated, they had all the students go across the street from the school, just in case there was an explosion. We spent about an hour outside for that one. They called in the bomb squad to check it out, and found out it was fake. We never heard about who perpetrated this stuff. It was always, “It was fake. Come back inside. Nothing to worry about.”There were many reports we’d hear about in the news of school shootings. They were always in inner city schools, usually gang-related. They did not make big news. They’d be reported on the day’s nightly news, and then pretty much forgotten.One year, one of our school’s choir teachers was fired for having an “inappropriate” relationship (the term used) with a student. The teacher had taught at the school for years. Just about everyone knew who he was. The announcement was abrupt. We weren’t told of his firing until he was gone. It became a hot topic among some students the day we heard about it. They were rather persistent in asking probing questions about why he was fired. The staff who gave the announcement were purposely vague, and “on message” about it. They didn’t divulge details of what happened.From time to time, we’d have an assembly with a guest speaker, or performer. Our principal attended each one. Usually these events went pretty well. A couple times they “went off the reservation,” and the presenter(s) said something risque. Each time, our principal got complaints from parents about it, and apologized. He’d say that they clearly outlined with the guests what our school’s appropriateness standards were, and that they were obviously ignored. Each time he said he felt tempted to walk on stage and stop the presentation in its tracks, but that since the guest(s) did not persist in their offensive behavior, he let it slide.This was the era when “safe sex” was taught. Part of Health class was sex ed. The big menace of the era was AIDS, which at the time was incurable, and untreatable, and usually resulted in death. The class was pretty explicit about reproduction, different kinds of sex (including anal and oral), different methods of birth control, and devices that could be used to avoid venereal disease. There was a segment with school counselors talking about the emotions around romantic relationships as well, though it didn’t get into emotions around sex.Another part of health class was teaching about drugs, the different kinds, what their mental effects are, what not to mix together (since that could result in death). This was before the DARE stuff that became discredited. Everything we got was pretty clinical. Some parents didn’t like it precisely because it was clinical. It didn’t get into the emotional/psychological/spiritual aspects much. Personally, I thought it was a good approach. It was teaching about cause and effect, “If you do this, this is what will, or could happen,” so people could go into situations aware of what the possible outcomes were. Parents were told ahead of time what would be covered, and they could opt their kids out of it. Most chose not to.There seemed to be a lot of conversation about this just out in society. It was a frequent topic of discussion on topical conversation shows I’d see on TV. The objection to it was that it contained no moral message. It wasn’t, “Don’t do this. It’s wrong.” It was, “If you decide to do this, this is what you can expect to result from it. Here are some methods and technologies you can use to avoid certain results, but certain results can’t be avoided.” In some cases, the best advice was, “Stay away from it.” What critics objected to was it didn’t feel like elders in the community were being respected. There wasn’t a sense of, “Do as we say for your own good.” The message was teenagers were expected to make up their own minds about these things, and the thinking from critics was, “What do they know? They’re not adults yet. You can’t just hand them this much responsibility and expect good results from it.” That argument did not win the day.I think one legitimate criticism of it was that the curriculum gave students the impression that all aspects of these things were revealed to them, when that wasn’t the case. I saw evidence for that with a few of my fellow students. I think what it was more evidence of was the fact that the curriculum tried to walk a tightrope between giving out factual information, and not getting into emotional and moral aspects of engaging in these activities. Parents wanted ownership over those aspects, and the curriculum gave it to them by not talking about them. However, this sometimes left students still asking for clinical explanations for these issues that they weren’t getting from the curriculum. I remember once in Biology a student asked about a related issue, and our teacher, feeling it was germane to the subject of biology (though having to do with instinctual drives), gave an explanation, and it was pretty good. After hearing it, though, I wondered why that wasn’t covered in Health class, since it was a pretty basic question that I’m sure a lot of students were curious about.Overall, it was a pretty good experience. It was a decent version of what public education was like. Looking back on the academic experience, I don’t think it was excellent. I’ve since realized some gaps in what could have been covered, but wasn’t, and I wish it had been. I’ve been making up for it. I think this was more a function of the school, and the community I lived in, how much the academic subjects were valued for their own sake. There were better high schools around than the one I attended, and I’ve come to the conclusion that in the traditional school system that’s been promulgated since the 19th century, that’s a fact of life.