Strike up the band for back to school – let there be joy

It’s Back to School season and these students from Caruthers Elementary School sure look like they are ready to learn. The school has just received a shipload of musical instruments this week to start their year and we would guess they are pretty excited about it.

They are literally beating the drums for music education. When a big package of instruments was delivered to school, students and teachers, “promptly lost their minds playing the bongos, recorders, drums,” says Lisa Birrell of the county superintendent’s office,

The VH1 Save the Music Foundation and Amazon donated the musical instruments and also provided a grant to Caruthers Elementary to establish the school’s general music program, which will provide every K-8 student access to music education. The entire school was assembled on the blacktop to accept this gift and the promise of a brighter future. BOOM-chokolakalaka!

And that is how it should be. Valleywide back-to-school is among biggest celebrations, as residents of all ages stock up on new clothes, glittering notebooks, smelly markers, crayons in a jillion colors. It’s time to embark on another year of growth, accomplishment, brain development, relationships and skills that will carry them through life.

And there should be joy. These are uncertain times, but the best teachers know that’s just part of the fun.. As globe-trotting Google Classroom trainer Alice Keeler of Fresno told reporters in Panhandle, Texas, this week, she is preparing students for what she does not know.

“What’s going to be the big thing 20 years from now? I don’t know,” Keeler told ABC7. “My job is to prepare the kids for what I don’t know. There is no skill I need to prepare the kids for other than being adaptable. The students are not afraid of technology and whatever new change is coming, the kids will be OK with it.”

As for moms and dads, well there is a mixture. We adults are a bit scared of technology’s dangers, of letting our children fly off to college or study in a foreign country. We cry when we send our babies to kindergarten, and we cry again when they graduate from graduate school.

There is no hiding the cheers as well when the school buses pull away from the curb. That exhausting job of keeping our little ones busy all day during summer is happily turned over to their schools and there is a collective sigh of relief! You’ll see moms getting together to celebrate. The unpredictable summer days now settle into the school routine, which most families welcome. Lunch boxes, backpacks, homework, early bedtimes, Friday night football, school carnivals and Saturday morning soccer games weave our families and neighborhoods together.

Welcome back to school, everyone! Now let’s all – yes, especially the adults – buckle up for a wild ride and make it a year to be proud of.

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Strike up the band for back to school – let there be joy."