The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1957-09-06
@ [ I'M P S E S
THE PAST
By CAROLYN LLOYD

Old ideas are hard to discard.
Pink, to me, has always been a bed
room or a nursery color; therefore
il isn't surprising that ] was some
what astonished to find my class
room with two pink walls and two
green ones. The green l found
pleasing, but it has been a little
hard to learn to love that pink. 1t
must be admitted, however, that, in
spite of the fact that school decor
ators have gotten rather reckless
with their color combinations, they
have made great strides in turning
schools into something more at
tractive than high-grade prisons.
Looking back, the only impress
sion / can recall of all the schools
l ever attended is one of utter
drabness-all gray and brown and
dark. The building in which start
ed to school was the same in which
l began my teaching career, and it
hadn't changed bit in all those
years in between. 1t was dark and
dusty from the first floor to the
third; worst of all was the horrible
basement toilet, an affront to any
sensitive person. Later I attended
through the grammar grades a
school just like the first, a thor
oughly ugly old firetrap. Those
buildings were considered modern,
chiefly because the toilets were in
doors, / suppose. / doubt that any
of the students gave much thought
at the time to their ugliness be-
cause we took it for granted that
schools had to look like that. Some
where in my subconscious, how
ever, the image took root, for in
recent years l have had Nightmares
in which some one or some Thing
was chasing me from floor to floor
in one of those buildings. Always
1 wound up in the horrible base
ment.
Pupils of today will no doubt
take their surroundings just as for
granted as did those of my day,
but the lasting effect should GER
tainly be different. Most buildings
now are light and airy and painted
in pleasing colors-even pink.
Desks are movable and comforta-
BILE in contrast to the old stationary
ones that were evidently made for
oversize adults. In every way edu-
cation has been made less painful,
though no student would think of
agreeing with such a statement.
1t is startling to realize that only
twenty-five years ago the showing
of movie in the classroom would
have been looked upon as sheer
frivolity.-And now television in
the schoolroom.
The experiment with teaching by
television which begins this year
in North Carolina will be an inter-
esting one to watch, even if our
school cannot participate. 1t is
hoped that the teachers selected to
teach the courses will be reasona-
bly, photogenic as well as erudite;
otherwise the students might spend
more time commenting on their ap-
pearance than listening to their
words. No one, naturally, is ex-
pecting Marilyn Monroe type to
begin teaching history; on the 9TH
er hand, one might not reasonably
expect students to be pleased with
Nanny Yokum. One advantage
the t.v. teacher will undoubtedly
have-no one can talk back. While
the supervising teacher in the
classroom struggles to maintain
order her opposite number on t.v.
may talk blissfully on, unaware of
popping chewing gum, whispers,
and giggles. What she doesn't
make clear, the classroom teacher
must in the discussion period that
follows. In spite of the hazards of
camera nerves, timing, and long
hours of preparation, it looks as
though the t.v. teacher has it easy.
If all this can happen in less
than half century, the changes
that another fifty years can bring
beggar the imagination. Who
knows-we might even be giving
capsules of history and injections