Pavlov's Children

You may not know it, but you have been a part of the worlds largest experiment since you stepped foot into kindergarten.

You can deny it all you want, but throughout the years under the California education system I have noticed a reoccurring incident. Just as Pavlov would ring a bell before feeding his dogs, our teachers would throw their lesson plan out the window at the first sign of rain. Starting as early as I can remember and up until high school, rainy days were always consumed by board games, group activities, or just free time to do what you want in an attempt to get kids to feel ok about being in the rain.

The more I think about these days, the more I am convinced that it was all just a big conspiracy. Now I know that some people are still uneasy about the rain and prefer the sun any day, but that doesn't mean the experiment didn't work, it was just unsuccessful on those individuals.

Think about the teacher; they have to have a lesson plan everyday of school meaning that they had one prepared before they knew it was going to rain. So right off the bat it is already a waste of a day for that teacher and their learning regiment. They are going to have to catch up another day now too, pushing back the entire years worth of lessons.

There are still some rain Nazis out there who stick to their lesson even when Zeus is suggesting otherwise, but that's only because they weren't invited to take part in the experiment. It is usually the bitter teachers who don't stray from the hard work, and you can see now why they are so bitter; no one likes getting left out.

I suppose that even though the flexible teachers aren't really fulfilling the textbook definition of teaching, they still are teaching all the kids something. What they are teaching you is that it is ok to stay inside and that it is easy to find something to entertain you. I've never had as much fun writing on a chalk board than on rainy days in math class. The reason I might be saying all of this because today was a rainy day, I didn't leave my house once, and it was probably my most productive day in a long time. The people I owe that to, are all my grade school teachers. Well, them and the secret organization of rain enthusiasts, which is most likely run by the Parker Bros, Milton Bradley, and the Monopoly guy.