school

I used to believe…

When I was 4 there was talk of me skipping kindergarten and going straight to first grade. I was terrified at the thought of being with the older kids primarily because I was positive that, since I was younger, everyone else would tower above me and I'd only come up to the middle of their shins. Those first-graders are mighty intimidating, I tell you what.

I believed that our teachers lived at school. They were teachers--they had no reason to leave :)(

I used to believe…

In maybe 3rd grade, I was sitting in class daydreaming, and suddenly the teacher was asking me to go to the office to get a "one hole punch". I thought it was some sort of punishment for not paying attention, but dutifully went to the office and told the receptionist that I was there for the "one hole punch". All the while I was wondering if the principal, a tall bearded man, would be administering the punishment himself.

I was relieved when she gave me this funny metal instrument to take back with me. Phew!

I used to believe…

As I was a child at the age of 2 or 3 years my brother (who is three years older than me) was put to school. So my relatives asked me if I was already keen on going to school, too. My answer must have been quite surprising for them and it was about this:
"No, that�s not a good place to be - everyone who is put to school looses his teeth."

After all, maybe there�s really a causal coherence and school is just a enormous tooth-fairy-conspiracy to get the childrens� teeth.


Well, that was a really strange thing to believe in and I wonder if anyone else did!?

I used to believe…

I was young when President Reagan was shot. At my grammar school it was said that kids at �the high school� had clapped when they heard the news. I didn�t understand the politics of it all and only knew that it was horrible that a human being had been shot. I thought that �the high school� must be this incredibly frightening orgy of violence � think �Rebel Without a Cause� crossed with �Spartacus� � that was orchestrated, encouraged and graded (!!) by the teachers. What else could bring people to applaud the assassination of a president?

I used to believe…

this is actually my mom's old childhood belief. In third grade, her class was located in a portable building which had housed the special education class the year before. My mother was the youngest of five girls. Ergo, her sistgers convinced her that she had been retarded from birth and that nobody had wanted to tell her. Idunno how long she fell for it, but knowing my mom, it may have been some time.

I used to believe…

The night before my first day of kindergarten, I was very excited. I pictured "school" as this cross between a medieval monastery, a planetarium, and a mad scientist's lab. People in long flowing robes. Wild chemistry set-ups with bubbling flasks and spirals of glass tubing. At "school", I would finally get to learn the secrets of the universe.

Imagine my surprise at the kindergarten classroom. My heart fell, but after a bit, leaped with hope again as the teacher said that we should "line up to all go to the lavatory". I heard "laboratory", and thought this was finally it. Clearly they had all the cool stuff hidden in some other part of the building.

But then saw the prosaic tiled wall and then realized it actually meant "toilets".

School has not lived up to my dreams yet, but I think I'm still looking for that same thing.

I remember an exercise in class where we had to measure the length of our foot with a 1-foot-ruler. I was absolutely confused as to why we needed to, since a foot must be a foot long!

PS - By the time I was older I was actually quite gifted at mathematics - true.

I used to believe…

When I was a little girl, my mum and dad told me that if I was naughty, I would go to the "naughty girls school" and would point it out when we drove past it. I always thought, gosh that's small, they must just cram them in like sardines. It wasn't until I was 18 and going past it on the bus that I realised it was a Gas Sub Station (those little green huts).

I used to believe…

When my son was in the 4 year old transition class, he came home, very serious, and informed me that his teacher did not know her colors. Trying not to laugh, I asked him why he thought that. His reply, which was also very serious, was that everytime his teacher held up a color, she asked them, "Class, what color is this?" After turning back to his work he looked back up and said, "and to think, she is trying to teach us!"

I used to believe…

WHEN I WAS IN 1ST GRADE A LADY CAME INTO OUR CLASS AND ASKED IF ANYONE HAD ALREADY BEEN IN SPEECH THERAPY.I RAISED MY HAND WITH SOME OTHERS AND TO MY HORROR I HAD TO GO WITH THEM. I NEVER HAD SPEECH CLASS NOR DID I NEED IT. I THOUGHT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO GO IF I'D ALREADY BEEN THERE.THEY SENT ME BACK TO MY CLASS.

I used to believe that teachers lived in ufos at night and tha's why they dressed so weird.

I used to believe…

When I was 6, on the last day of term before Christmas, there was a rumour going round my class that our teacher was in fact a burglar who had put time bombs in our Christmas crackers so that wehen we pulled them, we'd be blown up!

I used to believe…

In the first grade we learned the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and I remember resenting having to do so, because nobody ever explained to us why we had to salute a mere object!!
So every time we saluted the flag, I went through the motions but my mind was dead set against paying homage to a thing. Only later did I learn the significance of the act.

I used to believe teachers wouldn't assign homework if someone missed class, because the missing student wouldn't know what to do, and that wouldn't be fair, would it? I actually missed a homework assignment in 4th grade because of this; I didn't bother checking on the blackboard for the assignment, because I just *knew* we didn't have any homework. My mom had to explain to me that the missing kid would have to make up the work when s/he got back to school, which I thought was just a travesty of justice.

I used to believe…

when i was about 3 i used to think that your age went along with what grade you were in. you were 1 year old in 1st grade,2 years old in 2nd grade,3 years old in 3rd grade, 4 years old in 4th grade ect. ect.

this was reinfored when my dad told me that i wasnt in school becuase i was too smart and not because i wasnt old enough