school

I used to believe…

When I was in elementary school our family knew another family by the last name of Reese. When at school they talked of going out to the playground for "recess", I thought the Reese kids would be there. I kept looking for them at recess, but since the Reeses went to a private school, I was always mystified why I never saw them.

I used to believe…

My best friend and I were convinced that a new male teacher was a spy, and spent ages trying to persuade the other kids this was so. One of his main complaints was that there never seemed to be any paperclips when they were needed, so we came to the conclusion that he was secretly stealing them and selling them, and that his complaints were just a cover. Thankfully, I was only 7 at the time and had an highly active imagination, so I have an excuse! But if you're reading this, Mr Mooney, I'm on to you...

I used to believe…

When i was in about third grade, there was a major fire across the street and up a bit from the school. this put the entire school onto a fire-safety trend, and we would have fire drills every two weeks or so. During the first one of these (which i thought was a real fire) we were told to line up against the back fence. I thought that if we were too close, the school would literally explode and kill us all.

I used to believe…

When I first started school, I used to believe that my dad was waiting for me outside the door all day until it was time to come home - at least that was what he told me! It never seemed odd at playtime when we went outside and he wasn't there! He used to tell me that to stop me from crying when he took me there!

I used to believe…

When I first started school we were told that we had to ask permssion from the teacher to go to the toilet, i took it a bit too literally and thought I had to do this ANY TIME I wanted to go to the toilet, following an embarrassing incident during lunch i was corrected.

I used to believe that if we dig a hole put some pencil wrappers and pour milk for 3 days in the early morning will be turned to a rubber, till me grandma heppened to notice it.

I used to believe…

During my first few years at school, I kept hearing that "teachers have eyes in the back of their heads", so I thought that when someone became a teacher, they had to have an operation to get an extra set of eyes! I also wondered why a lot of lady teachers had long hair. What's the point in having eyes in the back of your head if you keep covering them up? (fortunately I didn't embarrass myself by asking that!)

I used to believe…

Until first grade, I thought all the teachers lived at school with all the other teachers. They didn't have a family or kids of their own and I also thought they called the other teachers by Mr. or Mrs. too!

I used to believe…

When I was in kindergarten I remember hearing that when you were six you'd go to 'the big school' for first grade. I was baffled when we sang 'Happy Birthday' to someone on her sixth birthday and no group of 'big kids' came to escort her to 'the big school.' I eventually figured out that this was a generality.

I used to believe…

When I was in grade 1 or 2 and had to write the date at the top right hand side of the page in my schoolbook, I would always run out of room by the time I got to the end - for instance, June 14th, 1978 would have the 7 and 8 all skinny in order to fit on the page. It kept happening every day, and eventually I started to wonder if the numbers 7 and 8 were feeling bad that they were always smushed, so I started making sure that I had lots of room, and drew the letters 7 and 8 really really really wide, to compensate for all the times that they had been cramped.

For some reason, this really annoyed my teacher.

I used to believe…

When I was little I used to believe that study hall was a huge room with a long table. The room was dark. Their were many chairs on each side of the long table. In between each seat was a divider which was a small wooden carved into the desk thing blocking the people from the others so as not to cheat. I was sure surprised when I saw the real study hall.

I believed that college was a big room, like an ancient cathedral with amber-colored stained glass windows, and rows and rows of old-fashioned wooden desks where the pews were, and there were rows and rows of grown-ups sitting silently at their desks and writing on papers.

I thought teachers secretly lived at school over the summer. They lived in big pickle jars full of some kind of fluid or maybe plugged into electric outlets to recharge in the small bathroom in the back of the classrooms. Why else would they stack all those boxes of Kleen-ex up in the windows?

I used to laugh about it until my son entered the first grade. I was pretty shocked to discover he had the same teacher I had... and, I swear to God, she hadn't aged a day!

I used to believe…

On my husband's first day of grade 1, his dad dropped him off and told him he would see him that night. My husband burst into tears figuring that he would have to stay at school until midnight!

I used to imagine schoool as being a hallway made of bricks with bars and stools. The students would sit in the dimly lit, narrow corridor and write all day long. Beside them would sit a bowl of water to rest their hands in when they got writer's cramp.

I used to believe…

when i was in elementary school, i belived that when you were in college all the taught you was to count really high and make sure you knew your abc's forwards and backwards.

I used to believe…

whenever I would say the pledge and it got to that part "from which it stands" I would always imagine witches flying around the flag and to this point I still do but I know thats not what it means!