Commentary By Hank F. Miller JR. (Hank is a former resident of Gloucester City who now resides in Japan)

As a student at St Mary\’s school in Gloucester City, at the beginning of my education so very long ago. I fell between the bumper stickers.

You know:

My kid is An Honor Student.

And:

My Kid Can Beat Up Your Honor Student. I had little aptitude for stuff like math, science or spelling, a real disadvantage that was compounded by a comatose-esque level of motivation.

But I will say this for myself. When it came to being in the right seat, in the right classroom, at the right time, I had National Honor Society numbers. If she\’s still there and not retired to Newburg by now or somewhere else, just ask Sister Roseanne.

You look at one of my old multicolored report cards, and you won\’t see anything but glowing comment concerning my attendance, punctuality and sense of geography.

(I also got along well with others.)

Unfortunately, I don\’t think I would be capable of achieving such a level of excellence today. This is because the typical classroom schedule is now sophisticated well beyond the average adult\’s ability to comprehend it

You think getting the clock on the VCR to stop blinking is a challenge, then take a peek at something called \”block scheduling.

\”What is block scheduling? Here is a way a newspaper story here described the system that has gone into effect here in this country of Japan a while back.\” Eight periods will be held one day in five and each of the other four days will have a different combination of classes in six periods. There will be two 50-minute periods, one 75 -minute period and one 41-minute period during the five day period.\”I don\’t know about anybody else, but as for me to follow this schedule, I\’d have to be tracked by satellites to comprehend this.

The purpose of blocked scheduling is to give students longer periods of uninterrupted time with teachers. This, of course, is not always a good thing.

I mean, if the teacher happens to be that \”Dead Poets Society\” guy, fine. You need extra time to get back and forth from caves and stuff. Or if the class involves slicing and dicing frogs, or sex education, or something–or any combination thereof–then, sure, I can also see how some extra time might be a good idea depending.

But say you get one of those teachers whose delivery makes Steve Wright sound like Martin Luther King? What happens then? If you go to a lot of meetings, you know all too well what happens then.

Yes spend the whole time fixated on the stapler and fighting the urge to grab it and drive enough U-shaped shards or wire into your skull to induce unconsciousness.

Still, there is still hope.

The good thing about something like block scheduling is that it is an education trend, which means it has shrimped sun-bathing.

In the near future, someone with more degrees than a Death Valley day will decide that because today\’s kids have the attention span of men with remotes, they need constant stimulation.

Thus,\”Nanosecond scheduling,\” Which calls for five-minute periods and the constant changing of classrooms, will become the rage. And I will have been born far too early.

Warm Regards From Kitakyushu City , Japan