Summertime Blues

It's that time of year, summer is getting hotter, you want to put on your shorts and go to the beach, or creek or pool, but instead, you've got to go to schooooool! Not only that, for young people today, the powers that rule their lives have determined that the first day of school is no longer the day after labor day, it's now starts in middle to late August for most!

I'm thinking back to Junior High 1968 when the song, Summertime Blues was a big hit for Blue Cheer on their first album Vincebus Eruptum. That song played all summer and when it was getting closer to the start of school in early September, the dread set in. I would go into a mini depression that the inevitable was about to happen, back to school, again.

So weird that I became a teacher but you know, I still felt that way even as an adult. Of course school is important, but I always felt for the kids on those first days of school. They got their tan and now they're in a new room with a new teacher, some new classmates and maybe a few friendly faces to stare at while the teacher goes over the rules. Back in the day, we all sat in the same desks in rows facing the front, like graves in a cemetery. I know I'm painting a bleak picture here, but those memories are long-term and sadly, still exist today in many classrooms. I do have the great hope that school is becoming a more engaging place as we move forward in the 21st century with a more projects-based approach to learning, like real life.

So in San Diego Unified, today is the first day of school. I'm thinking the best for all the students and teachers and wishing them all the best for their day and year ahead.

I got this song stuck in my head flying back from Seattle yesterday, it's a memory of the summer of 1968 and going back to Fesler Jr. High.