Local elementary and high schools are perking right along and the college campus is abuzz with activity. Young adults around the state are driving up and down the highways to get to their day classes at community colleges and universities within driving distance. Some are packing up and moving away for another year of post-secondary education.

And the world watches with great anticipation.

We can hope that all the activity leads to well-educated children and responsible, well-prepared adults. We can trust the teachers will be allowed to do their jobs and that those students who need extra help don't keep others from getting what they need. We can pray that school boards and administrators and any such governing bodies truly have the best interest of the students at heart when they make important decisions.

Those decisions are bigger and more complex, I'm sure, than they were 40 years ago when I made my from our home to the neighborhood elementary school two or three blocks away. We didn't have some of the issues schools have to deal with today.

Back then, the cost of a "hot-lunch" was 35 cents and an extra milk would set you back 3 cents. If you purchased a hot-lunch, you were expected to eat it all. No throwing away peas in your milk carton; no wasting food at all. You could, however, trade your peas for some else's potatoes, as long as the teacher in charge -- the lunch monitor -- didn't catch you.

If you were out of line, you were disciplined -- and sometimes severely. Teachers had paddles. Some of them had large paddles. I remember one shop teacher who had a long paddle with holes drilled up and down its length. When he used it, you could hear the wind whistling through those holes. We didn't practice "time-out" or "safe seat" back then. My, how times have changed.

If you felt sick, the school secretary would stick a mercury-filled thermometer under your tongue and, if you had a fever, she'd try to get in touch with your mom. Back then there were no cell phones, and most of the mothers I knew were at home during the day. If she couldn't reach anyone at home or find a nearby neighbor to take you in, she'd either pack you up and take you home, or you'd stay in the office the rest of the day.

Back then we didn't have to deal with free-and-reduced lunch programs, state school funding formulas, language concerns, or after-school programs. And since our school was right up the street or a block or two away, we didn't have to worry about missing the bus or being dropped off at the wrong location.

But somehow we managed to learn what we needed to learn to be productive citizens.

Good luck to all the students, educators, assistants, administrators and school board members out there.

Our prayers are with you.