Most have heard the statement, “Everything I needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.”

My recollection of kindergarten is mighty limited. I entered it when I was 4 1/2 years old; we were living in California. I recall a grand piano seated on a shiny floor and naps on army blankets on the floor.

It would have been the school year 1949-50. We later moved to Oregon where I began first grade, for one day. It was my sixth birthday, to welcome me, the teacher had a cake drawn on the chalkboard and she asked me to count the candles. I was extremely shy, it was the first day in this new school, she gave me a traditional birthday spanking, I cried and I was unable to count the candles on the cake.

Perhaps it’s just that I wouldn’t count them. That was also my last day of first grade that year. It was Feb. 4, 1951. My birthday had come too late, after Sept. 1 of 1950. Therefore, the rules stated that though I had begun school in California, I could not begin school in Oregon until the following year. Of course, I didn’t learn this was the reason until I was in my late 30’s or early 40’s.

I thought it was because I cried and wouldn’t/couldn’t count the candles. Yet, I’m a bit off the subject. My next personal encounter with kindergarten and its influence was when our daughter experienced it. It certainly seemed she learned many things that I am wont to think were extra-curricular. These things came to the surface during her “meditative” moments that she spoke aloud.

To set one scene, I was sorting clothes for the laundry and she was seated in the little room off the utility.

“I can hardly wait until I have a baby,” she said.

I remained silent, not quite sure how to respond or how soon I should, if I should.

“Don’t you want me to have a baby, Mommy?” came my daughter’s query. “

“At the proper time, sweetie. When you grow up and get married,” I calmly answered.

“Oh, Tommy doesn’t want to get married,” she said.

I think my eyes crossed a bit as I remained silent. She remained silent on the subject, too, her meditation/sharing apparently over.

In this decade, I experience kindergarten and first grade as a substitute teacher. It seems it is still the bent to teach all one needs to know in kindergarten. Not only are children learning to be politically correct, environmentally savvy, as safe as possible from strangers, they are also learning how to be computer literate.

They learn to move a mouse before they learn to read, and that mouse can actually help them learn to read. It helps them learn to do math, as well.

Kindergartners learn social behavior, peer pressure, herd mentality, and individuality in both positive and negative ways. A child may be given verbal praise for great behavior, a job well done, or their neighboring student may be given such, in order to promote like behavior in them. This, of course, is the positive aspect of peer pressure.

Each day, in most classrooms, a “student of the day” is chosen, at random. This student gets to be line leader, a special honor. This does instigate a negative consequence, however. Everyone wants to be “out front.” Complaints of “cutting,” “shoving,” etc. begin, and we wonder why the plaintiffs can’t just accept the spot in which they’ve landed. Why do they think they should be in front or as near the front as possible?

One teacher I encountered also had a “line-backer.” It was important in his class to “bring up the rear,” as well. It would be nice to know if this helped those future adults accept their spots in line, on the road and in social gatherings in a more healthful and benevolent way.

In my limited experience, it seems many of my daughter’s generation have retained the idea of not marrying, yet not exactly remaining “single,” either.

Single these days seems to mean not dating anyone, not living with anyone and not the passe, perhaps archaic, meaning of “unmarried.” I wonder what this decade’s kindergartners will hold as their world view.

What aspects of their first year of education will influence their family makeup, their community awareness and loyalty, their patriotism, their motivation to succeed, contribute and socialize?

And the thing that almost blows my mind the most, is how might they communicate with their fellow citizens?

I can barely wrap my mind around all the ways available for communication these days, let alone in another two decades when today’s kindergarteners will be running our communities, states, countries.

Another terrifying thought, “How long might it be before we need an “Arnold” as a “Kindergarten Cop,” in our public schools? Oh, may it never be; and may there come a time when kindergarteners won’t have to share in the worry about the future of the Earth, what happened to Mommy and Daddy, and how many moms, dads, grandpas and grandmas should a child have?

Virginia Salter of Hermiston is a substitute teacher for Hermiston School District.

Readers may e-mail her at poetlariat@oregontrail.net.