To the Editor:
I really enjoyed Marilyn Campbell's article about "Keeping School Clutter Under Control" [Connection, Aug. 13-19, 2014], which contains great advice about maintaining a tidy environment in the home relating to school activities and assignments. But I was a bit misled, thinking the local schools were finally putting an end to clutter in the classroom. I went to elementary school from 1948 - 1956 in Chicago when a classroom consisted of 40 desks in rows and columns, a globe, a flag, and a blackboard. My First Grade class photo even shows 20 extra chairs around the back of the room for 20 more students who weren't gifted with a regular desk. That was when our students were ranked number 1 in the world, dropping to number 2 when the USSR launched Sputnik. I've only visited a few classrooms recently, but I was shocked by the amount of distracting clutter in each one. Desks aren't in rows and columns, and some rooms didn't even have desks. One of my nephews in Chicago has to sit face to face with a classmate. I suggested that he wear a bag over his head. At a class function in Fairfax County, the classroom had so much clutter most visitors couldn't even pass through on a tour. Supplies for every activity, project and lesson were strewn around the room or hanging on a wall much like an antique shop. I'm not sure when this trend got started nor the rationale behind it, but considering the ranking of our students in the world today, it might be time to go back to standards that existed when the U.S. was number 1.
Gene Phillip
Great Falls