On a lighter note than my last post, I have to say that I am so excited that someone on Facebook started a group for Dover Elementary School alumni! For those of you not familiar with the GREATEST SCHOOL ON EARTH... Dover School was a very small elementary school that was located right by the Dover Mill, just off of Highway 226. I think the building is now being used as a church. Anyway, Carole McDaniel was our principal and everyone just had the most fabulous experience there. If I ever come across other Dover alums, we always talk about how special our little school was. In the late 1980's, the push to consolidate the small area elementary schools into bigger ones brought an end to Dover School and began what is now Union School. I have so many fond memories of that place and I am not the only one. It would seem that everyone who attended believes with their whole heart that we were very fortunate to experience a little slice of Camelot. It is THE reason I wanted to become a teacher. Unfortunately, schools today are nothing like Dover and I really think that is why I feel such frustration with my job sometimes. School should be fun. School should not be a place where you do nothing except reading and writing and math. Social skills and life experiences should be part of the curriculum and it just isn't in today's school - at least not the way it used to be.
I remember being taught to put my napkin in my lap when I ate my lunch. We learned manners. Chew with your mouth closed. Hold the door for people behind you. Say please and thank you. We had parties and watched movies. We sang songs. We danced. And never was this viewed as a waste of "teaching time". We were encouraged to be creative. We actually wore our costumes to school on Halloween and celebrated each other's birthdays. We were taught to love learning. We were exposed to art and music. We went on awesome field trips. We saw things that a lot of kids would never have been able to see otherwise. We learned cursive writing (did you know they don't learn that now in most schools?) and we practiced it until we mastered it. We had recess EVERY day, and PE too. And guess what? We weren't fat! It was great! And it just looked the way you would expect a great school to look... cool kid friendly paintings on the walls and sidewalks, a big tire playground out back, etc. Everything about it was perfect.
I hope that my kids have a great experience in their elementary schools but I am worried by some of the things I see. I loved going to school and I hope that my kids will too. I worry sometimes that there's just too much emphasis on academics. I mean, I know they're important but I think I learned a lot more just by living and being a kid in the environment that I had at Dover. It wasn't shoved down my throat. I had the chance to learn to love learning and see the importance in it BEFORE I HAD to. I think it made all the difference in the world. So to all those who had anything at all to do with the experience I had at Dover School, I would like to say THANK YOU! It was truly an awesome place. Go Wolfpack! :)
3 comments:
I almost cried reading this! Dover was perfect. I wish our kids could have gone there.
Hey, you think you were lucky because you got to go to Dover. I was even luckier. I was the Mom who's kids got to go to Dover for all those years. Imagine how nice it was to know that your kids could go to school, have fun, and learn something at the time. And you know what was even more comforting? I never had to worry about either of you.
Heather, I think there is enough people that dearly loved Dover school that, as a collective, we should think of a possibility of buying that old building and starting a privately-funded school. I'm serious. I've thought about it for years. I love that school so much and where it stands and what it stood for. I've actually dreamed of buying that property and fill it's halls with the love that was once there.
I stir my brain almost every night in search of what I'm destined to do in this world. I think about this option and instantly become overwhelmed in the happiness I would have if I were a small portion of it.
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