Growing up and going to school the 1970s

I grew up in the 70s in the USA. The education system was not as good as it is today. Or was it? I think I did not read my first book, nor did I do any homework until I was 14. However, at 14 I went to a prep school, Avon Old Farms. From 14 on I studied often 8 hours a night after school and sports.

For sometime, I felt that the first 14 years of my life was a waste in terms of education as I saw the young kids of the new generation doing homework for hours a night with their parents and on computers.

But is the education of today necessarily better?

In retrospect, I did not waste the first 14 years of my life, I did other things. With all that extra time on my hands, I had more time to be a kid, I used my imagination and I dreamed.

I played complex board strategy games with thousands of pieces put out out by a company called SPI and as a result I learned geography and history and logic without every thinking about it. I would read the bible and debate philosophy and the nature of the universe with my childhood friend George Wheat, who I am friends with to this day 40 years latter. I would listen to shortwave radio programs from around the world. My friend Scott Pass wanted to be an entomologist and he had an extensive insect collection with scientific classifications. I would listen to classical music of all kinds as this was the only music we had in the house and I was a kid and had no money to buy or download pop music. Because the education system of the 1970s was so easy and I had no homework, I had time to explore the world. Instead of dogmatically filling my brain with facts, I filled it with childhood experiences.

Tags: 1970s, education, growing up, homework, school