https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment0
Segment Synopsis: From grade 7 to 12, they had about 25 to 30 kids in the class. There was a blackboard across the front and one across the side, opposite some windows. They had individual desks. In grades 1 to 6, they shared chairs and tables. Paul describes the tables.
A typical day started with an assignment: each grade had something to do. The teacher would look after one grade while the other worked on something else. One big advantage of attending multiple grades in one classroom is that it was easier for Paul to catch up. His sister also helped to teach Paul at home when he wasn't going to school. Paul doesn't remember any problem students, though teachers weren't soft back then. Teachers would never be called by their first names. Paul and his wife couldn't believe that it happens now.
Paul recounts an accident that happened in class with a glue spillage. No one came forward and the teacher wouldn't let people go home until someone cleaned it up. Paul had chores to do and tried to clean it up. The teacher asked if Paul was the one who did it, to which he answered "no", and the teacher told him to sit down. They later had a male teacher that was a true disciplinarian: no one dared speak in class. Paul thinks the discipline made for better citizens.
Lunch time was inside during the winter time. Three girls from a family were very good artists and they would draw animals and things on the blackboards after lunch. One of those girls went into taxidermy and was quite talented at it.
Map Coordinates: 53.55014, -113.46871
GPS: Locality: Reno, Alberta
Map Coordinates: 56.00011, -117.00262
https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment602
Segment Synopsis: They had the standard subjects in school. Social, reading and writing, arithmetic, and science. Paul still has a report card from those years. They didn't have any of the extra additional subjects that city schools would have. Their education was very basic. There was a lot of memory training: memorization and whatnot. Grammar was important, as well. They didn't have classes like drama, biology, trigonometry, or other specialized courses.
School supplies were the responsibility of the parents. Supplies were passed on from generation to generation and other things would be purchased secondhand when possible. The schools were only supplied with the teachers and the chalk that went on the boards. School was taught in English only. There was no punishment for using another language in school. The school was predominantly Ukrainian, though there were Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, and Metis children.
https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment923
Segment Synopsis: Paul spoke very little English at home until he was 4. Paul's mother never spoke English and Paul always spoke Ukrainian to her. However, over the years, she would speak Ukrainian to Paul and Paul would speak English to her. By the time he started school, Paul was very comfortable in English.
Paul's closest friend was a neighbour kid (who lived 2 miles away) who was one of 13 brothers. When they hung out there were usually 2 or 3 of the brothers with them. They were the only kids that age in that end of the community. In order to know more kids, they would have to go further. Beyond Paul's farm, there was nothing but brush, so they were at the end of the community. Together, the kids would play ball together. In the winter, when a train went by the school, they would call out to the engineer for steam. When the steam hit the snow, it would spray the kids with the snow, which they thought was great fun. They played a modified version of baseball as there wasn't enough children for 2 teams. They'd also use a frozen horse pie as a hockey puck for pickup hockey.
https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment1225
Segment Synopsis: The school organized a few events. There was the school concert that Paul was in, though he can't remember his part in it. The teacher also organized a school picnic near a river where the kids could play ball in the open area. The teacher had one of the fathers use a team of horses and a wagon to get the kids to the picnic. The kids had ice cream, which Paul thinks they must have made there. A rainstorm came and forced them back to the school. Paul and his sister had to walk through a flooded path on the way home. The creek on the property flooded part of the farm as well: the downpour was significant that day.
There was another picnic on field day. They went to another school in a nearby town, Nampa, and had competitions: races, tug-of-war, and other events. That event was the first time Paul tried a bottle of pop: Paul was 12 or 13. It was Orange Crush. Paul says it is not the same as modern Orange Crush and you can't find the flavour anymore. He liked the flavour of that old pop.
https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment1489
Segment Synopsis: Paul and his father often drank sour milk with a chunk of ice and vinegar water. With the vinegar water, they would pour a bit of vinegar and sugar into water, stir it up, and that was their "pop", but it was a good drink to them.
Paul never knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He thought about it, but he could never think of an occupation that appealed to him. Even in high school, he still couldn't think about what he wanted tot do. He knew he didn't want to do hard manual labour, but that's all he was really sure of. He never had his mind set on a particular career. Paul thinks his parents were a bit disappointed that Paul never went to university as they were certainly prepared to send him to university if he wanted to go. He didn't go because he wouldn't know what he wanted to take. Paul has no regrets in going to university.
https://localcultures.ukrfolk.ca%2Fohms%2Frender.php%3Fcachefile%3D2004-091-1713.xml#segment1664