In yesteryears schools had a budget and some buildings for extra curricular activities. There was a kitchen with a row of oven and sinks and some countertops, it mainly smelled of detergent. On the walls you’d see some pictures of cakes and roasted poultry (In reality, I do not know what you saw on the walls here in the U.S.A, I come from another country, in my country, we had appetizing pictures for decoration). Somewhere else there was a whole room with cloth and threads, maybe some sewing machines, some big tables to lay the garments. Here, the walls would display various projects, maybe also a table of conversion table between metrics and Inches. Moving on, there was yet a third building with machines. That one was for woodwork. It smelled great in there: wood and varnish. Very clean, too, I don’t know how they did it. Actually, I do know how they did it, whoever was fooling around during class had to stay and clean while the teacher was sorting out some papers. I know that because I was the one that stayed more often than not. Then, there was the art room. Smelled of paint and glue. The walls were absolutely hideous, in my opinion, with all those masterpieces of young Leonardo (Da Vinci, not Di Caprio) splashing colors on papers.
Let’s see, what else did we have in school? Cooking, yes, sewing, yes, woodworking, yes, art, yes. Ah! I’m forgetting the gymnasium. That’s where Physed would take place, and basketball, and running in a circle till you drop, and doing some push-ups till you drop, and doing some sit-ups till you drop. The teacher’s goal was for you to drop with your entire tongue coming out the side of your mouth. Wait! We still have those. Plenty! And we get the football field, and the baseball diamond. Good, good! I’m glad.
And, of course, we got the music room. That one was always a bit messy, for some reasons. Instruments were scratched, dented, sometimes piled up in chaotic manners All were functioning, though. It was not intimidating at all. Not welcoming either. It was, for a lack of a better word, normal. Somewhere staring right in front of him was the inevitable bust of Beethoven/Bach/Mozart. That’s how you knew. Oh, and the piano with the black and yellow keys.
Wait! We still have those. Barely, but we do! All the others have gone. No more cooking/sewing/woodworking/art classes, but most schools still have music. Why? There’s no reasons for it. After all it’s expensive, it’s useless in life and it’s very difficult to make a competent musician. Yes, but the studies show that it’s excellent for the brain. Well, well, we’re going to keep it then. Last man standing, with his baton and the whole world of art and creativity on his shoulder: the music teacher. I love our modern times.
