I was educated in the Catholic school system of the 1950’s
and 60’s, first grade through high school. I don’t think of it that often, but now that I do, they taught me readin,’ writin,’ and ‘rithmetic pretty damn ‘good’. When it came time for college, I didn’t have
any foreign language requirement because I had four years at St. Catherine’s. I tested into first year college calculus,
and my English skills allowed me to start wherever I wanted.
My point here is not that I was such a smarty pants. I was quite the opposite. I was a wiseass who was already getting drunk
regularly. I took school only half-seriously,
but still, somehow, those nuns pounded some knowledge into me.
And, yes, it’s true, school today is nothing like it was
back then. Most of us feared the nuns’
wrath - at least, until high school.
Even though we did our share of horsing around, it was more civil back
then. A dreaded meeting with the principal,
or, even worse, the monsignor, was enough to keep most of us in check.
All of this comes to mind why? I haven’t the faintest idea. I rarely think about my Catholic education,
and when I do, it’s usually in the negative.
In AA, November is gratitude month.
I guess I just wanted to give thanks for all the good things I learned
during that time. It still sticks with
me. I still hunger for knowledge. I ♥ school.
If someone would pay, I’d go for a PhD.
Then I’d want to teach in a school.
So, thanks, sisters, and occasional fathers, for the basic
tools that you gave me. I’ve taken them for
granted for decades, but they’ve served remarkably well.
Now, if only you had not included all that “other” stuff, but
that’s another blog…
There is nothing better than a free education.
ReplyDeleteI know what you are talking about with the nuns. I went to a catholic school until fourth grade. My dad took us out because in the winter time we could not wear long pants under our dresses. He went to the school and yelled at the nuns then came to my class and said I was going home with him. That is when I went to a public school then.
ReplyDeleteI went to public school and I did well. You can still do well in a public school. All of my children went to the same school and did extremely well.
ReplyDeleteAs you all know, I value education. I ♥ learning, I ♥♥♥ teaching and getting a child excited about succeeding and learning. It really makes me sad to see kids who, for whatever reason, feel that the future is so hopeless, or there is no chance for their potential to succeed, that there is no point for them to learn.
In the 'olden' days we were afraid of authority..Principal, cops, moms..and DAD! That fear kept me from some of the things I might have done. School was not a choice but a have to thing. The bad kids skipped, smoked across the street and wore leather jackets. Needless to say I did smoke (mom knew but NOT DAD) and I never skipped school (ok only once) but I never wore a leather jacket. I did make fun of some icky kids and boys would make fun of me (development). But that was life. Now kids just don't give a damn.
ReplyDeleteThere are still oodles of wonderful kids out there. I had high school age kids of every color who hugged me goodbye before the break. Do you ever remember hugging an adult in H.S.? We can't give up on them. They are socially raw and need our attention, time and guidence more than ever... the sad thing is that the adult to pupil ratio is drastically dropping. I get really frustrated when people bad mouth our educational system. Not everyone who works in education is good (we all had a teacher from hell) but starving the system is a recipe for future disaster.
ReplyDelete***Guidance, darn kindle!
ReplyDeleteSchool-housen forever...wooohoooo,
ReplyDeleteI need someone who REALLY loves me to send me to school full time and give me...ohhhh $750.00 a week to spend...I could get into that
BUT...I don't think there is that much love in the whole world!
KKD.... When we talked about Walden, it was said Walden kids are at an advantage much like a parochial school, and anything good they do is just expected. In this thread, our school systems are filled with great and wonderful kids. Just treasures...
ReplyDeleteSo I'm kind of sitting here wondering how all these wonderful kids can't rise up above the Thug life running the halls and do something positive. I don't buy it that a school with two and three times the students can find enough of these great kids to do positive things. Walden challenges. Maybe it's time to challenge these other kids too.
"can't"
ReplyDeleteHuck, maybe you misunderstood what I said. I don't take for granted success by students from any school, public, private, charter, or whatever. Learning is a choice, helped along by excited, hard working adults. What I said was that students who attend Walden and private schools MUST show effort to remain there. Unfortunately, those who choose to toss the opportunity the public is paying for them, go into public schools to drag down the rest. The public school students who are on the fringe are most affected by this as the adult resources are taxed by the few "rotten apples."
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can expect the good kids to turn around the bad. They can stand as examples, but their job is to push themselves to their highest potential.
Home life for some of these kids is abhorrent. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard. It is not an excuse to behave poorly, but it might give you insight into the hopelessness some of these kids face. Some have never experienced a success they can be proud of.
Orb's, Now that Is a great story, and speaks a bunch about the difference between the 50s, 60, and today.
ReplyDeleteOrb's, sometime it takes a while to find out how good your education was when you were in school. BTW, Is that Betty Boop next to you in the picture with George Washington's teeth?
ReplyDeleteI had friends in Horlick High School. I don't think we ever talked about educational differences. Teenagers don't think like that.
ReplyDeleteSo much has changed since then, and the pace of change itself has quickened. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Two different worlds.
Of course, I prefer my world. I have no solutions to hordes of poor children in school. I have no parents for the children missing those from their lives. It's a shame that so much human potential goes down the drain.
Again, thank you, dear Dominicans, for knocking some sense into me. I assume that at my judgment day, there will be a nun at the top reciting my sins.
legal stranger, I'm the guy holding my fingers behind the next guy's head.
ReplyDeleteI went to St. Rose Catechism classes. Later I always felt the nuns were my first encounter with terrorists as they sure terrified me.
ReplyDeleteI went to Catholic school a few years in elementary school and did get my knuckles hit a few times with that pointer stick thingy.
ReplyDeleteI used to call the children that went to public school "Publics."
They were considered the evil entity. That is until, of course I became one.
THEN....I went to all Catholic colleges...which also had nuns. One seemed to always be trying to reform me, like I was some wild
co-ed or something of that nature.
But I wasn't... maybe 'cause she
saw me kissing some guy once and thought the worst. "What in Heaven!"