school

I used to believe…

When I was in grade school we had a history lesson about the Civil War and Reconstruction. The teacher told us the United States had split apart and then after the war the Southern states had to rejoin the rest of the country. I thought she meant literally split apart. I imagined people using big boards to nail the country back together.

I used to believe…

My friends and I thought that grades in school kept going on forever and that even adults had to go to school every day. Only after we asked a teacher what grade she was in did we learn that the last grade is 12th grade.

I used to believe…

Kindergarten was the first time I ever saw a white board. I didn't know what it was. So, when my teacher took a marker and started writing on the board I told her she was being bad and shouldn't write on the walls.

I used to believe…

My brother was six and getting ready for his first spelling test. He told me he had the system beat. He was going to memorize what was in the book! He seriously believed he was the first person to come up with this way of cheating. I didn't know what to say. I was younger than him, so I didn't know if this was cheating or what.

I used to believe…

My parents are atheist and I thought it was something unique about our family (not that we were the only ones, just that it wasn't common). When I went to school, we had to write a few things about ourselves. One of mine was "I don't believe in God." I'm not sure how the teacher took that.

I used to believe…

When I was 7 and I didn't go to school, I would always imagine my name appearing on the news saying i'm dead and so on... Because I thought that everytime a person wasn't at school they would appear on the news

I used to believe…

When I was ten or eleven our teacher took my class to the library and the librarian explaind how to write a bibliography. Then she gave us books to work on. I thought we were taking these notes because the librarian needed them for her catalogue, and I couldn't understand why our teacher kept sending us back to do it over and over again. Of course, on my essays I would just write the name of the author and the book title at the end.

I used to believe…

In Kindergarten a girl had stopped coming to school and we later learned that she had moved. I didn't know that "moved" meant "moved to a different house", so I thought that if I sat still for a very long time and then suddenly moved my body really fast it would mean that I didn't have to go to school anymore.

I used to believe…

There used to be curtains that covered the underneath of the cupboards at school, I was convinced that behind those curtains was a bed that the teachers slept and lived in when we weren't at school.

I used to believe that in the USA's national anthem the phrase "Dawns Early Light" was actually "Dawnzearly light" and could never figure out what a dawnzearly was.

I used to believe that little creatures lived inside desks and tables and were always busy hammering and sawing and constructing amazing cities inside the furniture. I would listen to them whenever I got the chance. It was a long time before I figured out the noises were simply vibrations from pencils writing on paper, people walking past and etc.

I used to believe…

When I was young,I used to believe that our maths teacher was a mind reader.I don't know why I believed that but I always tried to avoid thinking of bad stuff when he was around.

I used to believe…

Like many, I believed that teachers lived in the school, despite the fact that both my parents were teachers and were at home with me. I thought they would hang themselves up in coat closets. I remember dreaming about my parents hanging themselves up, and believed the dream to have actually occurred at some point.

I used to believe…

while reciting the pledge of allegiance as a child, i used to think there was a place called Witchit Stands where witches lived. i was shocked to learn that what i actually should have been saying was "and to the republic for which it stands..."

I was often bored in school during tests and so would fashion elaborate scenes in my head about the circles I needed to shade in. My favorite was that it was a mummy's tomb with a curse and the explorers had to 'escape' before 'smoke' filled it. Complete with screams while they died

I used to believe…

In fourth grade, I had just moved (back) to the US and learned the Pledge of Allegiance. Ronald Reagan was President, and I knew he was a Republican. For the longest time, I thought they would have to change "and to the Republic for which it stands" to "and to the Democrat for which it stands," if a Democrat was elected president. I don't remember when I learned what a Republic was, but fortunately, I got myself straightened out!

I used to believe…

My brother told me when I was four (he's six years older than me) that during nap time his teacher would walk around with a board with nails in it. She would hold the board close to your face to see if you were sleeping. So when I started school I believed the same thing and would never let myself fall asleep during nap time. My brother is 30 now, and still says it really happened. I still kind of believe him.