I was born in 1942 and entered the rural public school system in Edenville Michigan. It was at the beginning of the end of the one room school house era. The K-8 school consisted of 4 one room schools moved to one location in Edenville, attached and then referred to afterwards as the Edenville School. It has now since been removed from the property. A private residence is now there.
Local adults served on the school board, local adults maintained the school, and the parents of the students were actively involved in school life. There were Christmas parties. A local wood worker taught a shop class. Lonnie drove the school bus. Anna Mae and her friends prepared lunch for us. Carlos Page, the Methodist minister taught 7th and 8th grade. The Edenville School didn't have a telephone, radio, or a television. We had long recesses. There I became a very good softball player even though there were not enough students for two teams, the ball was soft [Yes! There was only one ball and one bat.]. It was a non-threatening environment free from intimidation. I look back fondly on those years. There were 7 students in my 8th grade class. Almost all of us went to college and graduated. One became a doctor, another an engineer, computer programmer, teachers and parents.
Control of what was taught, how it was taught and school administration was at a local level. The school board was staffed by parents. The teachers, cooks, bus driver and janitor lived locally. We saw each other in church and we knew each other's first and last names.
All students from Edenville School were bused to Midland, Michigan beginning at the 9th grade. That marked the end of parental involvement in my education. Control was now by strangers who lived 20 miles away and who some feared. My brother is 4 years older then me. By the time he was ready for Junior High the Edenville School had closed. That marked the end for meaningful parental involvement in local education.
The new Meridian School system replaced all schools north of Midland. The people that took control of education for Hope, Edenville and Sandford townships then controlled the Meridian School systems. These people were strangers from somewhere else but for a few exceptions. At that point parents had not been totally disenfranchised, yet. That would happen later.
The completion of Paul R. Smith Middle School prompted me to write this post. The school is located a short distance from my home. It’s on approximately 10 acres that is enclosed by a chain link fence. The entrances are gated and closed most of the time. Large stop signs order us to stop. A sign at each gate advises all who are about to enter, “Security Notice – Security cameras may be used to record events at this facility.” Another sign screams, “NO Trespassing.”
The future has been locked in concrete, steel and asphalt for the next 50-75 years. The school is staffed by professionals. Good people, but with more interest in the will of the administrators who administrate county and state laws than the will of the parents who have gradually become primarily procreators who house, feed and care for their students.
The only people welcome on the property are authorized school employees, law enforcement and students when permitted. The rest of us have become potential trespassers.
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