Remembrance of Childhood Past.

When we first moved to Thornton, from the city in 1972, the elementary school was across the road and down the path from our new house: Parkside School. (Since closed, and consolidated with the junior high across town, due to declining enrollments.)

In those days, pre-abortion, and post baby Boom, we still fielded enough students for two classes in each grade. And, they even committed the great sin of "tracking" us = trying to sort out the students who already knew the alphabet and basic numbers and were on their way to reading and writing; from those who could be grouped in a more "beginner" group, going a bit slower, with more nurturing, in learning their letters and phonic sounds; all of us coming together for art, music, gym, recess, and mid-day milk time. Now, I hear, they don't do that too much anymore -- "track" kids' progress, and divide them up based on where they're at, academically. (Illegal, or discriminatory or something. Even though, it was possible for students to grow and move on from the one class to the next, in a different grade the next school year, when they showed enough progress and promise. Perhaps we just don't trust teachers can see that growth, and have the students' best interests at heart anymore?)

[ And perhaps that's one reason I'm still anti-abortion: too many classmates, from unwed mothers, or poorer "broken" homes, who were slower perhaps, and a bit behind, but nice enough kids. When you can give them a name -- Brett, Jeff, Michelle, Lisa, Robbie, (we had a lot of Roberts my year, no doubt owing to Kennedy's death in June that birth year) -- of whom might not have made it that far, once abortion was legalized a few years later, well, it perhaps makes you think of those "fetuses" or potential lives, (my preferred term), a bit differently.

Small schools, graduating about 50 in our 8th grade class, teaches you that the "smarter" and the slower, well, we all had something to offer. In terms of character and compassion, sometimes the nicer ones can't be measured in terms of test scores or aptitudes. We all learned from each other really, growing up. Funny how unified a graduating class can be years later, when you're all coming from the same town, heading into a much larger high school... ]

But I've strayed from my main point: Back in those days, we had "open lunch", meaning if you lived close, you could walk home, eat, go the bathroom, and then walk back again and join your classmates at recess, before heading into the building again for the afternoon. My sister and I -- we went home, like so many of the neighboring kids in our subdivision. Spaghetti-O's were big then, and soup, for warm food in the winter. And sandwiches and Fritos and fruit sliced up, some semblance of lunch. And always a banana, even in the bagged lunches later on. But mostly, seeing Mom and the younger siblings, sharing how the day was going, and then heading back together: that was lunchtime.

Now? I wonder if the free lunch programs, which makes food available for those students who would otherwise go without, helped contribute to the "closed campus" idea. Maybe student safety, or time restrictions -- you can't offer a whole hour for eating, walking home, recess in a time-pressured school day.

I am saddened by the growth of school breakfast programs though. Wondering how -- if parents who qualify for supplemental food nutrition cards -- the child could be sent out in the morning without something in their bellies. If that isn't the basic parental contribution (perhaps they're off early at work, and without older siblings to pour a bowl of cold cereal even?), then think of all the other childhood "basics", like a library card, outside toys, or even a bike, that those children surely must be missing out on.*

I know it's very anti-PC to write, but it sad in a way, how far we've fallen. We've ALL fallen. Reading this piece, drove home how exactly the best intentions in the world go astray. Here, a father whose son currently attends Chicago Public Schools (if I were a betting woman, I'd italicize for emphasis on that current factor) shows in honest detail, how the Free Breakfast program becomes part of the mandatory school day; what the children are offered exactly, and how his son is required to sit and wait/watch others eat their breakfasts at school ... and how this too takes from the teaching time. You know, when the schools were expected to primarily provide the academic basics during the day.

God help the non-rich people who have children these days and can't escape such fates, and as always, God Bless America (and how far we've fallen, in just four decades...):

At five and a half hours, Chicago’s school day is already the shortest of any of the 50 largest districts in the nation. During the mayoral campaign, both Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and a rival, Gery Chico, brought that up. Mr. Emanuel noted that a child in Houston gets four more years of K-12 instruction than one here.

But now comes “Breakfast in the Classroom ” for 410,000 students.

Most schools already offer a cold or hot breakfast before the start of classes. It’s free for the 86 percent of public school students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. My first grader, who has breakfast at home, has attended two C.P.S. schools, and they both offer breakfast at 8:30.

For several years, about 200 elementary schools have participated in a voluntary program to offer breakfast in classrooms at the start of the instructional day. In January, the Board of Education made it mandatory, meaning about 300 more elementary schools, including my son’s, must institute it. A student need not partake of breakfast but must sit there as others do.

The $41 million expense may make vendors happy, but it reduces instructional time.

Norman Bobins, a longtime school board member and esteemed former bank president, struggled before voting yes — caught between the nutritional benefits and the time lost from education. Mr. Bobins said his gut told him that improving nourishment for poor children should override.

But school officials also told the board that breakfast could be completed in 10 minutes. That is preposterous, but it was a line repeated when, calling as a parent, I contacted the office in charge.

“It will take 10 minutes from the school day in the classroom so it won’t cut into the school day,” I was told in a classic self-contradiction. I also spoke to principals and teachers who think this is truly dumb and will disrupt their curriculum.

One North Side local school council is drafting a protest letter pointing to the high percentage of students who arrive by bus around 8:15 a.m. Rather than have breakfast at 8:30, they must now wait until 9 a.m. and lose instructional time.

It gets worse. Schools like my son’s may stagger lunch due to inadequate space. At his school, kindergartners go at 10:30 — a little more than an hour after they’ve had breakfast. Isn’t that nutritionally sensible!

Colleen McVeigh is a teacher who was a consultant to the AUSL network, a group turning around some very tough schools. She taught at 14 of the most challenging elementary schools. Each started the voluntary program and, she informed me, “the notion of taking 10, even 15 minutes, is total garbage.”

Ms. McVeigh said that 25 to 30 minutes of instructional time went poof. Younger kids are, well, younger kids. They need help to open cartons or peel oranges, spill milk, etc. When she caught the drift, she wound up not arriving at her assigned school until 9:20, as was true with many students, she says, because of the breakfast delay.

As for the fare, Ms. McVeigh detailed it: “A lot of processed carbohydrates. My personal favorite was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a graham cracker. Corn pops. Oversalted cheese sticks. Mealy apples. Stale bagels with cream cheese.”

The Chicago Public Schools nutritional office informs me that April will bring turkey, ham and cheese sliders, cereal, a hard-boiled egg, a pear, a whole-wheat bagel and “fruit-flavored” yogurt.

So chew on this: children are losing, perhaps, 20 minutes each day. That’s 57 hours over 170 school days, or more than 10 days — of instructional time.

I offer those results as a public service. Given the now-assured decline in education time, already underperforming Chicago students might not be able to do the math themselves until, say, 10th grade.

As Mr. Bobins said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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* I'm not going to be cynical here, and even consider that parents who can't afford a basic breakfast at home for their child, have money to spend on buying videos, entertainment systems, and video games.