I always remember my first school, "Pink Prairie". It was a one room, with a central fireplace for heating. In order to maintain a tight budget, the older boys had the chore of cutting wood and keeping the fire going. The educational staff consisted of only one teacher and grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 was enrolled in odd years and grades 2, 4, 6, and 8 was enrolled in the even years. If you started on an even year, you were automatically enrolled in the 2nd grade. In the following year, if you were a good student, you advanced to the 3rd grade. If not, you were enrolled in the 1st grade. Next year you recycled through the 2nd grade again. How's that for a "Early Start" Program?

Long before there were "environmentalists", we wrote our math problems on an individual slate tablet using a chalk stylus. This writing instrument should not to be confused with today's Tablet Personal Computer which is a notebook - or slate-shaped mobile computer. Its touch screen or digitizing tablet technology allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen instead of a keyboard or mouse. The tablet cost 25¢. In later classes, the writing medium became the red "Big Chief" tablet, costing 5¢. The other day, I came across a "Big Chief" tablet on sale and paid $1.00 for it.

The results of my first math test is shown to the right. Found 50 years later in my mother's possessions, the original document was almost unreadable. After scanning, the GIF image was processed using the Edge Enhancement+ Image Filter of Leonardo H. Loureire's LView Pro©.

Throughout all of my schooling, mathematics always came easy. The science of mathematics is one of the fundamental keystones which allows the bridging of many technical disciplines such as accounting, chemistry, circuit design, flight dynamics, heat transfer, physics, servo analysis, structural analysis and business systems.