I've often thought that years ago when I was at school every kid in my class (50 kids) could read and write. How would I have known that? I now acknowledge that I just thought that. Did I see the work of anyone other than the kid besides me? Of course not. In fact, kids used to be graded and their position in the classroom reflected the teacher's assessment of you. Girls one side of the room (right side), boys the other (left side). Top girl at back left side of desk closest to window, second top girl beside girl one, then next desk up from the back of the room came girl 3, also closest to window and girl 4 sitting next to girl 3, etc etc etc.
It is firmly in my mind. I knew how everyone was graded. The boys (on their side of the classroom) were seated in a similar pattern, depicting how smart the teacher assessed them to be. Just imagine the outrage if that occurred today?
Less discipline within classrooms doesn't help. In the old days, teachers were revered and respected and definitely obeyed. Classroom were silent. Not today. No-one spoke except if teacher asked a question, and you were chosen (hand up, of course) to respond. You could go a week, before uttering a syllable in the classroom. I used to be a very very silent kid, too scared to raise my hand as I was too afraid to respond.
We don't want that sort of classroom back today. Those Friday afternoon folders we purchased from the local shops in which there were stories and a BIG SPELLING LIST on which we were tested every single Monday, now they helped us to spell. We were given a mark out of 10 on our efforts. After a year, we sure knew how to spell lots of words correctly, including hippopotamus. I felt very impressed by my efforts to spell that word. (Wonder if I have that spelling correct here?) lol
