When I attended elementary school from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s, things were a bit different than they are today. Raised in a church going family in a relatively small farming community in southern Minnesota, the town in which I attended school had no less than eight churches at the time. Every mainstream denomination of the day was represented except for the Presbyterians and the next towns in either direction hosted that group of followers. We had two Lutheran churches, a Roman Catholic church, seventh-day versions of the Baptists and Adventists, a Methodist church, a Congregational church and the Assemblies of God. Today there are even more denominational groups represented in the same town.
By the time I made it to high school and sang in the choir a couple of years, the choir director who, believe it or not, still teaches elementary music in the schools there, directed us to sing "Stille Nacht" at our Christmas concert. They were still called "Christmas" concerts then and no one blinked an eye at the though of singing the German version of "Silent Night" at the public high schools.
Since I attended public schools from kindergarten (which I only attended one day of kindergarten and graduated) through high school graduation, one of the memories of Wednesdays is "Release Time". Undoubtedly, a few of you out there will also remember your schools permitting release time classes even if you yourself did not attend. Our schools provided a time on Wednesdays for those students who wished to attend religious classes at the church of their choice. Of course, that meant that the church of their choice had to offer classes for the appropriate age groups. Since the local Catholic church taught catechism classes on Wednesdays after school, they did not participate in the release time program.
My family attended church in a different town so my parents decided that I could attend release time classes at one of the churches in the same town where I attended school. For some reason, I have a vague recollection about going to the wrong church for the first week of release time classes. Elementary school had its very traumatic moments for me so that is probably why this memory is unclear. What I do remember is attending release time with a couple of classmates who would later become valedictorian and salutatorian of our graduating class. None of which has anything to do with release time classes.
One of the other things I remember about Wednesdays when I attended public schools more than thirty years ago was that Wednesday night was always set aside for churches. Sports' practices were shortened on Wednesdays and no concerts, athletic events, meetings or other school activities were held. In the absence of any church related activity for your family, it was intended to be a family night for school parents and their children. However, today, because of the overal increase in the number of activities, schools are required to conduct sporting events, concerts and other activities on Wednesdays, Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. For some, there may be no break for reflection or family time.
Today is Earth Day and much emphasis should rightly be placed on preserving the planet, reclaiming the environment and stopping global warming. Just yesterday as I drove along the highway, I noticed how much garbage is laying there after the winter's snow has melted. The busyness of our lifestyle, which often keeps us running seven days a week, contributes to the increase in the global warming effect. Just imagine how much difference we could make in America if there was still an evening set aside where cars could stayed park in the driveway or garage and families of all shapes and sizes stayed in and enjoyed a home cooked dinner instead of grabbing something at a fast food restaurant.
Perhaps a new tenet could be that we set aside a new "release time" and give the earth a break!
~ DB Turnmire
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