Thanks for explaining. I am afraid I find that pretty dreadful.I just can't imagine teaching in a school where there is no art, craft,Music, PE games etc. It is just part of school life to me.The children must be bored out of their skulls, and as you say, very unfit.In the school where I have been teaching, an English Schools Foundation School, a whole day in five is given over to those lessons,plus IT, taught by specialist subject teachers.The core curriculum teachers get that day to plan their lessons together. Obviously we are spoiled!
Sorry to dwell on this but I need to understand. What do you do agout displays on the walls , and Sports days , musical evenings, choir and school orchestra? I can only presume these do not exist.

They still exist, but on a smaller scale. There are dedicated Chorale concerts and art shows (I am speaking for my son's district, so it could differ in other cities or states) but their time in the classroom is limited. Before posting a response to your question I asked him to tell me again how many days he gets for gym/music/art and it pretty much works this way: One day for gym, the next for music, the next for library and the next for art, the fifth day will be the "second helping" class for one of them then repeating the following week with the fifth day changing. When we were kids we had them all in the same day during different periods, and now it's one period offered to split between these classes.

In December my son's school offered the Holiday Concert with focus on the different holidays observed in a multi-cultural setting. It was during this night that the art projects were displayed in the lobby area of the High School and then returned to the school to be displayed on the walls outside the classrooms. His school does offer recognition awards to the classrooms for "Best Music" or "Best Art" for whatever the quarterly themes were, and the trophy sits on display outside the classroom. So art/music/PE classes aren't completely gone, just slowly becoming phased out. Sad.

I remember when we had no video games and played soccer, hide and seek and many other games with our friends outside our homes, parks and beaches. That was so good!

And it was safe to play with your friends in the street.

and that you didn't have to be home till the street lights came on.

Yes, I remember when I was a kid and I used to play with my friends and my grandmother called me to get in the house to eat, because I always forgot!

I used to live in front of the beach and there was no spotlights on the beaches at that time, and we all had so much fun hiding and seeking... So nice time!

I remember when my father tried to keep me awake to see Santa Klaus coming through the window. I was 6 years old and I couldn't stay up, so sleepy I was. Suddenly, my father entered my bedroom screaming: "Santa is in the living room"! More than quickly, I rushed to the living room and no sign of Santa. Then, my mother shout from the Kitchen: "he is here, he is trying to jump out the window to fly in his sled". I ran like crazy and almost jumped out of the window to see him, but no Santa there anymore. Daddy said: "oh Lord, you slept and he is gone. Now you will have to wait till next year". I cried so much and can't forget this until today, when my family tried to keep the magic around Santa and the Spirit of Christmas.

That was a funny post Rio, I will have to try that this year!

I remember when.......
I used to go to the park and the beach in the middle of winter, snow covered the ground and we used to feed the ducks

I also remember when it used to have a good few inches of snow on the ground before global warming

When Christmas was magical and you didn't want to go to sleep on Christmas Eve

When Michael Jackson still had a whole nose

Hahaha Rio! Great story, obrigada for the laugh.

Hey, Burgurl, try this year with your kids and they will be delighted. Just be careful with the windows, if you live in an apartment.

When my Granny's town (Many, Louisiana) was told that they had to let Black's use the town swimming pool...and they closed it instead.

I remember television stations signing off--there really was an end to the broadcast day.

I remember the Seal of Good Practice, which identified TV stations as subscribers of the Television Code of the National Association of Broadcasters.

I remember when the road that led to my house was dirt.

I remember my dad's old car--a 1971 Chevy Impala--being virtually new. By the time I started driving it, I had to get a running start to get it up a good-sized hill.

I remember when things like VCRs, computers and cell phones were novelties at best and huge in size at worse.

I remember Beta. (Don't laugh--just because it lost to VHS didn't mean it wasn't a great format, and it was in broadcasting for many years.)

I remember leaded gasoline.

I remember LCD wristwatches. Even owned one--a sharp little Texas Instruments model.

I remember CB radios. Had one of those, too--a single-channel radio that tied in to the old TV show "Movin' On", that I got for Christmas when I was 5.

I remember when the tv stations used to only broadcast between certain hours - and the band that played when they were ready to sign off at night.

I remember 'Super' and 'Standard' petrol - neither of which are available anymore.

I can remember when the Iraq war started in 1990, and the price of petrol went to $0.60c per litre - and we thought that was highway robbery. I can remember when I could fuel my car for less than $20 per fortnight!

I remember my Nan's old wringer - and the cautionary tales of flat fingers if you got too close.

I remember when you had to wait at least a week (and that was an express service) to see what your photographs looked like after you had taken them.

I remember not having air-conditioning at home - at it NOT being a death-sentence.

I remember buying music on records and cassettes - you know, records. Big, black CDs, according to my nephew.

I remember when I was (ahem) a teenager receving $5 per week pocket money - and this was enough to get me into the local drive-in, buy a packet of cigarettes, and have sufficient change for a soft-drink and a packet of chips while I was at the movies.

I remember local drive-ins - that showed 2 movies for your money, rather than just one.

I remember being just plain 'wrong' at certain subjects at school, and this not being an issue for my self-esteem.

I remember spelling tests (spelling bees), maths tests, etc etc, as a way to test whether or not I had learned what I needed to know.

I remember when playing cricket or baseball meant actually going outside and playing the game - not indoors on the computer or game console.

I remember when Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was a two-way street, and all the taxicabs in the city were multicolored--green with blue hoods, or red with orange trunks, whatever they wanted--before they all had to be uniformly yellow.

Much like many other posters here, I remember when you could spend the day playing with your friends in the park, alone, and "be home by dinnertime"--but the park was Central Park, and still no one was worried.

I remember when fudgsicles and popsicles had two sticks, and you could break them in half to share with a friend.

Does anyone else remember going to Schrafts's for a hot fudge sundae?

Don't popsicles still have two sticks?