Nobody Tells Me How

Lyrics

My classroom was always a showcase In those days we did it ourselves With colorful pictures and charts on the wall A snowman in winter, a pumpkin in fall And all my supplies were in neat little piles On the shelves... My children were always respectful When the principal came, they would rise If I had to leave for a minute or two They always found something productive to do And everyone sat in their places according to size But kids don't know how to behave anymore! Ask thеm to rise and they ask you: "What for?" We confiscatе weapons and drugs at the door No spitballs and comic books now They want me to teach in a classroom like that But nobody tells me how... I made a big thing about spelling But they learned by the time I got through They copied the words till they knew them by heart Ten times for the dumb ones, and twice for the smart And gold stars were given To those who made sentences too... But why bother teaching them spelling today? Nobody knows how to read, anyway How can you spell what you can't even say? It's "se habla español" now The way I've been teaching for forty -some years Is no longer "effective" or so it appears Well, dammit, it worked for me then So what's wrong with it now? They say I'm supposed to "keep up with the times" But nobody ever tells me How...