Good morning. Well, whatever time it is you're getting this welcome. Busted pencils fully
Let it education talk educated educators talking education. Me Dr. Tim Slecker,
Jacob chairman of the board. Tim, I think there's a problem we might need to start over. Is
Johnny here yet? Johnny is not here for this home room. Um, Johnny is, you know, I I understand
that he is officially excused from home room today. Whoa. Um, his his daughter requested
that he be able to have a birthday celebration with her. And so I decided, you know what?
Okay, this one time and this one time only. I told her though, she has more birthdays
coming up. We're going to need at least a month in advance notice. That's tough. You know,
I'm sorry, you got birthdays, but we only had time for one. Hey, it's home room, you know,
and we got to do all this Jacob. I, you know, we're we're always, you know, talking education
and we're thinking about home room and, uh, I mean, it made me a little bit nostalgic, um,
who's thinking about, yeah, the whole idea of of home room, you know, what is the experience
of home room? Does home room even make sense anymore? Because I have a really vivid concrete
memory of of home room. Um, what it meant, what it was like, what we did. Um, and it kind of dawned
on me. Gee, well, that was last century. You know, yes. And, and I mean, who knows, maybe,
you know, people are going, what the heck is that even you're talking about him? Um, you know,
I thought so, you know, maybe I'll do a little reminiscing about what home room was back in the,
the 1980s, Jacob, um, you know, that the decade of, uh,
decadence as people refer to it or, um, that's fitting, isn't it for a decade to be of decadence?
Decade of decadence, the 80s, uh, you know, greed was good. Um, men had really big hair.
Um, and, you know, the, the hair metal was, I wasn't, I didn't really like it that much. And,
you know, but it was the 80s. And so I kind of just did what I did. But I was thinking about,
you know, home room in the 80s and, uh, the whole idea of what does it mean to, you know, go to
school. And I think we're largely talking about middle schoolers and high schoolers. And
remembering that in the home room and stuff like that because, yeah, we're talking about elementary
school, you know, it was kind of like, hey, you know, you, you show up in your first grade,
you go to first grade, you meet your teacher, you go to, you know, when I was a fifth grade teacher,
my students came in, we didn't have home room. They just came in and, um, you know, I gave out
Kleenex, I gave out fluoride, I took the lunch count and then, you know, we got to work,
man, because it was elementary school. But in high school, when I was in high school,
home room, man, it was like this kind of a cool place where it was, it was like a little holding
tank to get, you know, us ready to begin the day. You know, you showed up, you, you went to your
locker, you twisted fully one way to the right, halfway to the left and another full twist
again to the right and then pulled down on that combination lock and boom, you opened up that locker
and man, there was a whole life inside that locker. You know, you could identify people, you know,
who they were, what they thought about, what they valued, all those things where you walk past
the locker. And I said, you know, kind of made a reference to, you know, the passing of Lonnie
Anderson, WKRP and Cincinnati fame, you know, at the time, a lot of my male friends, you know,
seeing a Lonnie Anderson poster in their, their locker, that was, yeah, that's what it was. And
then in some of the, you know, and this sounds very gender specific, very kind of, you know,
very heteronormative sexual type of things. The girls had, you know, like David Cassidy poster. So
even though he was kind of coming out of the late 70s or, you know, for the sake of fairness,
and I also had a David Cassidy poster in my locker. Thank you. So we're not, you know, we're not
backing or, or being against anything here. Don Johnson for Miami Vice was, you know, big,
big in the girls' lockers. But then you, you know, you went into home room and you kind of,
you sat down, you, you talked to, you know, yeah, you had a home room teacher, which, again,
was really just somebody sitting there making sure that, you know, we didn't kill each other.
Yeah, we got to talk, you know, like, what are we doing? Hey, how are you doing? Where are you going?
Oh, man, after first period, meet me in the, you know, in the bathroom. We'll hang out. We'll
talk for three minutes and then we'll go to our next class later. Hey, you know, did you talk
to so-and-so last night? Hey, you know, it was just the kind of like a socialization gathering
place to get ready and begin the, for me, we had eight, like 45-minute periods ahead of us that day.
So, you know, I, I, it was a social event of home room. And I don't know, I just, like,
I liked it. I appreciated it. I, I look back at that now with really fond memories.
And I thought, I wonder what Jacob remembers about home room because you, you didn't have
home room in the 80s. I did not. I was doing all sorts of other stuff in the 80s.
But I'm wondering, Tim, because people who are from different states or different school districts
or maybe people who are finished or people who might be young or, you know, too young to have a
home room, can you explain? I mean, at its core, what is a home room? You know what? It's a,
because I said one, I do know. Okay, good. I mean, it was a holding tank for a group. So,
so senior year, I graduated with 120 students, right? So 120 seniors had to have a place to go
when they came to school, got into their locker and, and got ready to start the day.
And home room. So you take those 120 plus kids and you say we can fit 25 to 30 of them in a room.
You break them up and then you get told, hey, you're in room 157 with Mr. Santori for home room.
Okay. And those were the people that you kind of spent the entire year with every morning
before you started your day. I mean, you know, it was, it was an organization system. It was a,
you know, a filing system kind of, you know, I mean, and was there socially thought out mechanisms
for why this is a good thing? How does it work without a lessons? I'm sure there were, but I now look
at it though, it's gone. It was a good thing because people could, you know, get moving in a
direction that wasn't so like boom, got to get on the bell, got to get right to work. There was an
ease into the day and socialization as an adolescent mattered. It did matter. And so that's,
is that the answer you were looking for there? Chairman of the board, Jacob?
Yes, that was a great answer to. Okay. Thanks. So I'm a decade away from my freshman year of high
school experience. Okay. You and I basically the same age. Right. Right. But I remember that, and
I'm not sure if it was called home room, but this thing you're explaining is exactly something that I
had in high school. But the weird thing is that it wasn't the first class of the day. It was second.
Ah, and that doesn't make sense to me to because I remember this class we had where it's
basically there's no instruction. And it's not study hall because that was a different thing. So
this must be right home room. It must be home room. But it was the second class of the day. I had
English lit first. And then we went over to this home room thing. Ah, that doesn't make sense.
No. And see, I'm glad we're having this conversation because I think Johnny and I put together
the concept of Monday home room really based on a sense of going, it's the beginning, it's the
start. Yeah. You start with, you start with home room. And I'm hearing from you, Jacob. Well,
not in Jacob's world, we didn't. It did not make any sense. Because Tim, for me, what
home room was, it was a little bit of socializing. It was a little bit of looking four rows away
at a girl and thinking, boy, I wish I could talk to her. That'd be cool. But it was also a lot of
sleeping behind my backpack is what home room devolved into for me. And for seven other people,
I could see. It was a lot of catching up on that sleep that we didn't get. And now, why would they
do that after I struggled through English class? Or how about we just move, you know, give me
another hour before school starts. I didn't understand that part. But it seemed like it would have
made a lot more sense if that was like a staging ground to get you ready. Okay, you're back in
school. Hey, the day's starting. Let's get going and then go to classes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So
you're saying there was some wisdom in the 80s. There was a lot of wisdom in the 80s. It was
the hair was everywhere. And it was in the metal. It was on heads. And it made a lot more sense
than what was happening in the 2010s when I was in high school. Oh, man. So we're putting this out
there. You know, so if you're listening to this show and, you know, home room has, you know,
any type of well, first of all, if you remember it the way I did, hey, we want to know, you know,
again, here I'll put out the number 6085578577, you know, drop us a voicemail and let us know because,
you know, what a little remembering of home rooms, whoever you are, whatever age you are,
would be great now to have a comparison because Jacob, here it is. And this is, I didn't know what
your home room experience was like. And here we go. And I got to say, I agree with you. I don't
understand the concept of home room after period one. It made no sense. I'm looking back on it.
And it was weird at the time. But with hindsight, it's even more weird because it's like if we came
in here and did class and session on Mondays and then home room on Tuesday, what that would not
make sense. I'm going to take a homework assignment from this, by the way, because my little brother,
Jackson, is starting high school in two weeks. So I'm going to, I'm going to make sure to ask him
questions to see what is a high school these days. And I'll come back with that information. Does he
have a home room? I have no idea. Well, that's it. I will now, you know what? But as they used to say
back in the day, inquiring minds want to know they do. They do. You know, and that was a really bad
tabloid newspaper of the day, the national inquirer. And that was their tagline, inquiring minds
want to know, well, busted pencils, hosts, and producers want to know, what is this home room
that we have out there? Can we have a better understanding of it? You said, I very fond memories.
And this the other thing, even if yours was first of the day, like mine was, whatever,
I'm going to bet that there are people out there who are going like, I hated home room.
Really? I got to imagine there are some people who just were like, you know, like I didn't
like talking to people, you know, I wanted to get going with the day. It always made me feel awkward.
I was always kind of sitting in the back by myself. And I can't imagine whatever the first thing
of the day is, there's a bias against that thing because you're just starting your day and it's
not easy. So if home room is the sacrifice to the first class of the day, I can see those negative
memories existing. Yeah. Why don't we even need this because I could, well, you know, Jacob,
from your point of view, it's like, hey, we could start school a whole 20 because here's the other
thing. Home room for us wasn't a like 45 minute period. It was essentially like 10 to 20 minutes at
max. Got you. So, you know, there could be this, hey, we get to start at school 20 minutes later.
I don't know if that would have been the difference of better sleep or not 20 minutes.
That's what I needed. Okay. Yeah. Well, actually,
well, you know, and here we are, Jacob, it's home room. Hey, loving this whole idea of home room,
I'm glad I brought this up and thought about this because it, you know, we just were going on
and on week after week with a home room. And I was kind of coming from the assumption, well,
everybody knows what home room is. It's the very first start of the day. It's the very beginning.
And there you are, Jacob, going, well, not in Jacob's world, it wasn't.
It never made sense to me until now why the show's called that. So I'm glad we got this out in
the air. So I could understand. Well, and, you know, and with that too, hey, and if any of you
add home room at the end of the day, we really want to know about that because, whoa, I would love to
hear about that. That's Canadian. Just going to put out the number 6085578577. Seriously, tell us
about your home room experience because we got a dig deeper into this now, Jacob, we may have just
opened up a whole classes in session. Oh, regarding what is the purpose of home room? Why was it
20 minutes in the 80s and why was it's second period for Jacob last year or last year, last
decade, 16. All right, I'm a young buck, Tim, but I'm not 16. Yeah, yeah, you are. Well, you know,
hey, Jacob, loved having home room with you, loved meeting you every, you know, beginning of
the week, but you know what, now it's time for your moment of Zen.
There are people everywhere who want to see a different kind of world, who want to be at one
with their fellow men and women who think that people in other countries are human beings as we are.
And that if somebody is suffering anywhere in the world, we all have a responsibility to help them.
Hey, thanks for joining us. Hopefully, first thing you did this week was home room busted pencils.
Make sure you tune in on Wednesday or download everything. Classes in session, Friday,
Jacob's choice, chairman of the board, one of the most exciting drops that we do all week.
And yes, every Saturday across all the civic media network stations, downloads,
one full hour at 3 p.m. central time of busted pencils digging deep. And you know, hey,
check us out, go to civic media, look at the website and busted pencils.com.
Pay a visit over there. There's a lot of kinds of other exciting things.
And you know, as Johnny always says, keep busting pencils.