Bob Haase Another Can Of Worms

How Life Has Changed

I attended a funeral of a long time friend from Montello last Saturday and all this week I have thought about all the changes that have occurred since we were teaching together in the late 60’s.  Jack was a vocational agriculture teacher and was awarded the honor of teacher of the year in 1965.  We used a machine called a mimeograph to make copies of instructional material as there was no such thing as a photocopier.  We made the master for the mimeograph on a typewriter as there was no such thing as a computer.  The technology we have today far exceeds anything we could even dream of back then.  We didn’t have the instructional technology we have today, but we had something that was even more important and that was a better working relationship with the students that fostered learning.

Jack would teach Monday through Friday and on Saturdays he would make farm visits to check on student projects.  Jack and I both would often have our shotguns in the trunk of vehicle at school so we could go hunting with our students after school.  We didn’t have any problems with guns in the school and never heard of a school shooting incident.  I often spent Saturday or Sunday bow hunting with some of my students in the fall.  Knives in the school was never a problems and students often carried a pocket knife.

There was more respect and if a student got into trouble at school they feared going home knowing what their parents might do to them.  Students would get grounded and extra work to do around the house and sometimes a good spanking.  Parents were allowed discipline their children without fear of going to jail or losing their kids.  Families did things together, ate meals together, and there was no such thing as cell phones and texting.  I don’t think that there are many people that grew up during that time period that felt that it was wrong or that they were unjustly disciplined.

Strong family ties and playing and working together established friendships and a bond that was there so that you knew you had someone to go to if you needed help or just someone to talk to.  I am not saying that life was easy but I think it was much easier back then than it is today.  We didn’t have the drugs and social problems we face today and there were a lot less divorces and broken homes.  Sometimes things were settled with a fist fight, but not with a gun.

We have lot of things today to make our life easier than it was back in the 60’s, but I don’t think most people are as happy today as they were back then.  Life has changed but has it changed for the better?

Bob Haase is the host of “Outdoors Thursday” heard Thursday mornings at 9:10 a.m. on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ.