Let's Go Down The Road Again

Chris and I were running errands yesterday. As we were driving to and from we began discussing the various bond elections that area school districts had over the weekend. Waco ISD, where I work, passed a large bond election to build new schools and remodel aging facilities. This has been needed and will certainly be appreciated by all staff, students, parents, and community members. It is always nice to be proud of your local schools and your place of employment. Over the course of several years the district will build new schools, remodel some, and combine others in an effort to bring more cost efficiency to the district. I look forward to this time as an exciting time to be with the district.

Now back to the conversation I had with Chris. Chris asked about University High School and I told her that they would build a new University High at another location and then University Junior High would relocate to the old high school. I then stopped and corrected myself saying, "I guess it is University Middle School now. They don't call them junior highs anymore, they're all middle schools."

This prompted me to recall how the names of schools and other institutions change with time and our perceptions of the older names. For instance, "Grammar Schools". I'm sure they taught more than just grammar, yet they were called 'grammar school" and not math or social studies schools. Another term from long ago was having a "liberal education". Nowadays that would upset many conservatives because you would expect someone is being indoctrinated with a socially and politically liberal ideas. But years ago it simply meant getting a "well rounded" education.

Another good old fashioned name was "sanitarium" which denoted a health retreat or hospital. Nowadays I think of a sanitarium as being an "insane asylum". Of course the "insane asylum" was ubiquitous many years years ago. Now we have "psychiatric hospitals" or other less offensive terms.

Again, this is just another example of how I can start down the road to school and end up at the insane asylum.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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