Pupils at Fairview Elementary School in Hoffman Estates were into “Rebel Without a Cause” when their school was opened in 1957. But President Eisenhower and his World War II buddies were touting the “establishment” and singing “Moon River” instead. So the students turned to television to buck the system.
But that was then. Today, the 608 Fairview pupils are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the school, the oldest in Schaumburg Elementary School District 54.
The school recently marked the occasion with all the modern-day hoopla a picnic has to offer, including clowns, face painting and the Moon Walk.
When teacher Myra Weinstein started at Fairview 30 years ago, notes to teachers were hand-delivered to the classroom and children wrote letters to their pen pals. E-mail and the Internet are more common means of communication today.
“There are computers in every classroom today. And every room is hooked up to the Internet,” said Principal Janet Starr.
Rather than research materials with encyclopedias that might already be outdated, students today use the Internet to get up-to-the-minute information on a given subject, Starr said.
Back then, video cassette recorders hadn’t been introduced yet.
Still, some things never change. Forty years ago, reading, writing and arithmetic were emphasized. Today the focus is no different.
