Education the way that I remember it when I was in school

Growing up in the 80's and 90's I remember the 3 R's. Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic. We were taught the 5 W's, too (Who, what, when, where, and why). We learned cursive writing is what we had to do when I was in 3rd grade in elementary school. I remember watching some of the following educational shows: Square One, 321 Contact, Double Dare, After school special, Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego, etc. We were taught Common Sense in school. Common Core was not even thought of when I was in elementary school. We did use computers when I was growing up in elementary school. There was no internet, social media wasn't even thought of, and the only spell check we did is when we manually wrote the correct word, phrase, and punctuation, typing it on the computer with sentences that had fragments, run-ons, comma splices, etc. For me that was a big help for me writing complete sentences. There were other kids who used "hooked on phonics" who had problem reading on grade level. There were other kids who had a speech teacher, who helped them with pronunciation, the resources were there and the teachers made sure the students got the help that needed in order to succeed when I was in elementary school. Basically, computer was strictly used for learning and learning only when I was in elementary school. For fun, our teacher let us play Wheel of Fortune on computer and The Oregon Trail only if everyone had their homework and classwork done. 

Nowadays, a good education comes from either homeschooling, which I think is a wonderful thing and I can't knock it and K-12 online which is advertised online. None of this was thought of when I was going to elementary school. From K-6 grade, we stayed in one classroom when I was in elementary school. We were taught 7 subjects which varied from grades the following: Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, Music, and Art. We got both a letter grade and a number grade. E- Excellent, G- Good, S- Satisfactory, and U- Unsatisfactory, 1- Excellent, 2- Good, 3- Satisfactory, and 4- Unsatisfactory or Poor. In elementary school from K-2 grade I got the letter grades above (E- Excellent, G- Good, S- Satisfactory, and U- Unsatisfactory). From 3 grade-6th grade, I got grades of A, B, C, D, and U along with the number grades (1- Excellent, 2- Good, 3- Satisfactory, and 4- Unsatisfactory or Poor). We always got progress reports for each marking period, (there were 4 marking periods) from 7th-12th grade we just got letter grades and moved to different rooms. Teachers and parents had parent teacher conferences when need be, especially if the parent or parents child or children were on a verge of failing. The progress reports were to make sure that the parent or parents knew if their child or children were doing well or not so well in their classes. Teachers encouraged the parent or parents to continue to encourage their child or children to continue to do summer reading programs, quiz them on homework to help their kids prepare for tests or quizzes, tell their kids to continue their study habits. This would help their child or children be prepared for harder subjects when they get passed to the next grade and when he or she graduate from high school they will understand why taking good notes and studying really "paid off."