Thursday, October 06, 2005
Did you enjoy school?
From age 6 to age 18 nearly all Americans spend a third of their lives in school. Overall, did you enjoy your time in school? Were you a good student or a slacker? Were you the class clown or the brainy geek? Were you the teacher's pet or kid smoking behind the gym?
# posted by WDavid @ 7:08 PM 
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I think in Elementary School I was the kind of kid who wanted to do the best possible work. I remember once in 2nd grade my mother picking up me and my sister after school. I handed my mother my math paper the teacher had all marked up. I was very upset, I had gotten all of the questions wrong. Mom looked at it and told me I had actually gotten them all right, not wrong. Oh, I felt much better.
I always thought it strange when other kids would act up in class and misbehave. My feelings were, that's against the rules, you must follow the rules.
I loved going to the library and would usually look for books about racing, or the Hardy Boys. I loved class spelling bees, and I think I was better at them because I liked to read so much. Also, it made me feel good to be able to spell better than the others in class. I got to participate in a school-wide bee of all the classes best spellers. I thought for sure I would do better than I did. I think I made it through one round then had to spell "hoax". I had never heard this word before and I think I spelled it hoxe because that is how it sounded to me, but I knew I would be wrong. Today's spelling bee kids could spell hoax in their sleep. Nobody ever gave me a dictionary to memorize. I was very disappointed in my performance.
In Junior High School (now called Middle School) I still wanted to do my best work but found it harder to do so. The friends I hung out with were not the best influences. I experimented with cigarette and marijuana smoking, pornography and petty theft. I also started fighting. I remember I would antagonize this one guy alot, but especially when he wore his Ted Nugent T-Shirt. I would say something like, "Ted Nugent sucks!", even though I actually did not even know who Ted Nugent was. This would make him mad. I seemed to enjoy just making him mad, even though I knew eventually he would kick my butt. One day he finally had enough of me and sought me out between classes. Being just a skinny geek against a hard rock fan (those guys are tough, right?) I was surprised at how well I managed. That was quite an adrenaline rush! I probably got into half a dozen more fights with other people during Junior High School. I think I was probably the antagonizer in each instance.
In High School I was a total geek, the fighting days were over, (at least in school) replaced with reading fantasy books. In 9th grade (still Junior High School back then) I was introduced to The Hobbit and I was hooked. Every spare moment in High School was spent reading fantasy books, and even some moments that were'nt spare.
I was on the chess club, and actually beat the instuctor once. I had friends now who were good influences. I actually had a girlfriend for 3 weeks in the 11th grade, my family affectionately naming her "vacuum lips".
Looking back on it all, I wish I had spent more time being social than reading books. I am akward around people still and just find it easier to be alone sometimes. (A fact my wife finds very frustrating.) However the ease of being alone does not decrease the need to be with others. I am an introvert who craves social situations, yet when I am in them I revert to my introverted ways.
I always thought it strange when other kids would act up in class and misbehave. My feelings were, that's against the rules, you must follow the rules.
I loved going to the library and would usually look for books about racing, or the Hardy Boys. I loved class spelling bees, and I think I was better at them because I liked to read so much. Also, it made me feel good to be able to spell better than the others in class. I got to participate in a school-wide bee of all the classes best spellers. I thought for sure I would do better than I did. I think I made it through one round then had to spell "hoax". I had never heard this word before and I think I spelled it hoxe because that is how it sounded to me, but I knew I would be wrong. Today's spelling bee kids could spell hoax in their sleep. Nobody ever gave me a dictionary to memorize. I was very disappointed in my performance.
In Junior High School (now called Middle School) I still wanted to do my best work but found it harder to do so. The friends I hung out with were not the best influences. I experimented with cigarette and marijuana smoking, pornography and petty theft. I also started fighting. I remember I would antagonize this one guy alot, but especially when he wore his Ted Nugent T-Shirt. I would say something like, "Ted Nugent sucks!", even though I actually did not even know who Ted Nugent was. This would make him mad. I seemed to enjoy just making him mad, even though I knew eventually he would kick my butt. One day he finally had enough of me and sought me out between classes. Being just a skinny geek against a hard rock fan (those guys are tough, right?) I was surprised at how well I managed. That was quite an adrenaline rush! I probably got into half a dozen more fights with other people during Junior High School. I think I was probably the antagonizer in each instance.
In High School I was a total geek, the fighting days were over, (at least in school) replaced with reading fantasy books. In 9th grade (still Junior High School back then) I was introduced to The Hobbit and I was hooked. Every spare moment in High School was spent reading fantasy books, and even some moments that were'nt spare.
I was on the chess club, and actually beat the instuctor once. I had friends now who were good influences. I actually had a girlfriend for 3 weeks in the 11th grade, my family affectionately naming her "vacuum lips".
Looking back on it all, I wish I had spent more time being social than reading books. I am akward around people still and just find it easier to be alone sometimes. (A fact my wife finds very frustrating.) However the ease of being alone does not decrease the need to be with others. I am an introvert who craves social situations, yet when I am in them I revert to my introverted ways.
In general, I would say I did not enjoy school, but it wasn't school so much my circumstances and the things that happened to me during those years. I always felt that I was a good student and never really had to try too hard to get good grades. I think that elementary was probably the best and the place I felt most accepted by my peers. In Junior High Schhol and High School, I just felt "not normal" and as if I was never good enough. Throughout my school years, I never felt accepted by most of the parents of my friends. It was always as if they didn't want their child to be friends with someone in a wheelchair, and I never really understood why.
I enjoyed school. But I was very shy and had very little confidence. I also felt like an ugly duckling. I can remember being made fun of because of the way I dressed and my glasses. Then by High School, my priority was partying rather than school. And party I did . . .
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