I don't know what was so great about it but if you were chosen to clean the erasers it was a big deal. I always wanted to be chosen and generally it seemed a contest on who had the best behavior each week. I especially liked it when we upgraded from those black and white felt erasers to those long spongy erasers with cow hide on one side and a sponge on the other.
Once a week Mrs. Shumate would select a couple of us to go out and clean the erasers. Basically you would take all of the erasers then head outside and get down on your hands and knees and then pound the erasers on the sidewalk. If you were creative you would make chalk drawings on the sidewalk while you got chalk everywhere. It would make your hands real dry and get in your nose and all over your face. It was fun and of course you got to visit with one of your friends. I think the girls got to clean erasers more than the guys because Mrs. Shumate did not trust us to behave.
Thinking back on it, I suspect today if we still had chalk boards and erasers it would be deemed an environmental hazard or a health risk and everyone would be delegated to wearing a mask and probably we would have to out-source it to some company who would charge an "arm and a leg" to clean erasers. Plus they would have to drive to the school, pick them up in a hermetically sealed bag to protect against contamination, haul them off to an off site location where there would be all kinds of environmental protection, put in some expensive machine to be cleaned, then packaged and hauled back to the school where an invoice and an accountant or a CPA would have to be employed to take care of the expense. Are you like me and think sometimes the EPA over reacts and does not count the environmental hazard they create to protect us from an environmental problem? KISS - keep it simple stupid - has a lot of common sense.
Now I am not saying we don't have environmental problems, which we absolutely do, but I am saying that by the time you figure out all the CRAP or GRAP (Governmental Regulation and Policing) we have spent more environmental hazard than what we gained.
Just to let you know I really am in favor of protecting the environment. Let me give you some examples of good GRAP. When I was a kid and I dare say today it is worse, there are thousands of miles of abandoned pipe laying across the pastures in the Osage plus hundreds of thousands of pounds of cement left abandoned plus what really burns me up is when I see a beer can or whiskey bottle or Styrofoam cup thrown out the car window. Or how about those cigarette butts? I contend that the cigarette smoker threw the wrong butt out the window. Get IT?
I love my wife's approach to training. If you throw something out the car window, she will stop and let you go pick it up regardless of how big a hurry she is in.
Now back to Erasers. The great thing about erasers was:
So what do you learn in the Osage?
Once a week Mrs. Shumate would select a couple of us to go out and clean the erasers. Basically you would take all of the erasers then head outside and get down on your hands and knees and then pound the erasers on the sidewalk. If you were creative you would make chalk drawings on the sidewalk while you got chalk everywhere. It would make your hands real dry and get in your nose and all over your face. It was fun and of course you got to visit with one of your friends. I think the girls got to clean erasers more than the guys because Mrs. Shumate did not trust us to behave.
Thinking back on it, I suspect today if we still had chalk boards and erasers it would be deemed an environmental hazard or a health risk and everyone would be delegated to wearing a mask and probably we would have to out-source it to some company who would charge an "arm and a leg" to clean erasers. Plus they would have to drive to the school, pick them up in a hermetically sealed bag to protect against contamination, haul them off to an off site location where there would be all kinds of environmental protection, put in some expensive machine to be cleaned, then packaged and hauled back to the school where an invoice and an accountant or a CPA would have to be employed to take care of the expense. Are you like me and think sometimes the EPA over reacts and does not count the environmental hazard they create to protect us from an environmental problem? KISS - keep it simple stupid - has a lot of common sense.
Now I am not saying we don't have environmental problems, which we absolutely do, but I am saying that by the time you figure out all the CRAP or GRAP (Governmental Regulation and Policing) we have spent more environmental hazard than what we gained.
Just to let you know I really am in favor of protecting the environment. Let me give you some examples of good GRAP. When I was a kid and I dare say today it is worse, there are thousands of miles of abandoned pipe laying across the pastures in the Osage plus hundreds of thousands of pounds of cement left abandoned plus what really burns me up is when I see a beer can or whiskey bottle or Styrofoam cup thrown out the car window. Or how about those cigarette butts? I contend that the cigarette smoker threw the wrong butt out the window. Get IT?
I love my wife's approach to training. If you throw something out the car window, she will stop and let you go pick it up regardless of how big a hurry she is in.
Now back to Erasers. The great thing about erasers was:
- I got out of the building and outside
- It was an honor to be chosen
- Work was fun
- I never got sick from chalk dust.
So what do you learn in the Osage?
- everyone has a responsibility to take care of the environment
- if you mess it up, then you should clean it up
- if you are gonna throw a butt off of a building make sure it is your butt and not the cigarette
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
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