> > Life without schools, stores and offices doesn't sound that difficult, but I can't imagine how people managed to live without homes. Did they just settle under trees to avoid the rain and the snow?
>
> I think "air-conditioned" was supposed to modify homes, schools, stores, and offices, rather than just homes.
>
> Nyperold

It certainly worked out that way, didn't it. Schools were last. I can remember a time when I had been teaching for 20 years without air conditioning. A Tennessee Education Association representative came by and was giving us a little talk about the advantages of collective bargaining. He said, "You are the last group of college educated professionals who still goes to work in an unairconditioned building."

He was right. The school systems main offices were airconditioned at that time, but not the schools. A couple of years later, the allowed window air conditioners to be installed -- are you ready for this? -- in the principal's office. More years passed, and they air conditioned a couple of libraries in the system, but classrooms were still like ovens. Old brick buildings sat closed all summer while the Dixie sun heated them to well over a hundred. Then in August, we started school in buildings that were hot even on cloudy days, because the walls were heating the inside air. The PTA bought us some cheap fans that worked for a year or so, but had little effect on temperature. I remember coming into my classroom one morning before 8:00 a.m. and it was 94 degrees F.

Finally, about 27 years into my teaching career, the board bought window air conditioners for each class room. That was in March. The units sat in a store room while the maintence people declared that they didn't have time to install them. Finally, in May, I went to school on a Saturday and installed one of them in my classroom* and the last three weeks of school were comfortable. Not a single kid threw up in my class during the whole blissful three week period. I even had some, who were right in front of the air conditioner, that complained that it was too cold!

The last year that I taught was in a fully air conditioned, brand new building. Progress can be slow.
Howard
* They didn't fit the window so I spent a half day removing some of the window and cutting a sheet of plywood to fill in the gaps. It looked awful, and I was out the cost of the plywood, but it was cool.