But I have an excuse - it’s the times I grew up in. I remember the air raid drills from World War II. Dwight Eisenhower was president when I was a teenager. Everyone was reading a book called The Lonely Crowd which encouraged people to be self directed rather than other directed.( It may have been one of the first “pop psych” books.) The popular magazines spent a lot of time talking about what conformists we young people were (the flower people of the 60's may have been a reaction to that.)

So when I see a group of children all doing exactly the same thing, and they are not cheerleaders or a dance group, I am uncomfortable. I was taught, and I believe, that conformity is not next to Godliness.

Wednesday, April 13, when I attended the Board of Education meeting, I saw a lot of conformity. It went like this. Walking into the Moakley Street Building, I was practically accosted by a good sized display of chart boards covered with graphic art. The subject of the display was the award that Mechanicsville Elementary School has just won (yippee!), the Senate Productivity and Maryland Quality award. The cost of the display was probably in the $500 - $1,000 range.

The Senate Productivity and Maryland Quality Award which Mechanicsville received is an award given for applying for it, paying fees of $350, preparing a pre-case study, choosing an assessment team, attending a two day workshop, undergoing a two day on-site assessment, preparing a feedback report, compiling an assessment report, and reporting to management.

According to the web site “The decision to embark on an assessment typically takes place at the superintendent level preferably in collaboration with the district leadership team.”

After the presentation to the Board of Education by Mechanicsville Elementary Principal Barbara Cooksey Abell , the children (5th graders) marched out of the Board room all in a neat line, just about in lock step. Each child was wearing a blue ribbon with a bronze colored medal on the end of it. I kept thinking about the Nazi children in Germany and the Russian youth in Stalin’s time.

It’s not the School System’s fault. They aren’t responsible for the times I grew up in. It’s my fault!

But I can tell you this. I wouldn’t want to put my five year old grandchild in an elementary school which marches children in lockstep in a line, or puts, “1. High academic achievement for all students” above “2. Provide a safe and caring environment.” A high school with those goals might be appropriate, but an elementary school? Does that mean the elementary school is wrong?