"In My Opinion . . ."
June 24, 2001
Summer vacation officially begins tomorrow, and with it comes blessed relief from tech decks. These miniature skateboards, all the rage with junior high school boys, have plagued teachers throughout the year.
Mind you, I am a supporter of skate boarding. I know more about it than the average over-forty adult because of my son's passion for the sport. I appreciate the gravity-defying tricks that skaters accomplish while standing on their planks of wood on wheels, but I did not appreciate the finger stunts performed on the Lilliputian tech decks during school hours. These five dollar toys clicked and clacked incessantly on tables, books, walls, lockers, and any other available surface, assailing my brain much like Chinese water torture.
Interestingly enough, there seemed to be an endless supply of the diminutive boards. As quickly as one was confiscated in a classroom during a lesson two more seemed to appear. Most of my boys respected my request for no tech decks during class and kept theirs pocketed until break time. Then the room filled with tiny boards doing ollies, grinders, and 180s. Boys from other classes would huddle around my tables joining in during the short five minutes of free time. All the while I could hear that clicking and clacking and clicking and clacking and . . .
So today I sit here safe in the knowledge that I will be free from cute little tech decks for at least eight weeks. Who knows; by the time school starts in the fall the small boards might be yesterday's fad like Cabbage Patch Dolls and Magic Cards. I can only wonder what might take their place.