Wicked Wednesday: Memories of School

Wicked Wednesday again. School has been back in session for a couple of weeks in most places. Wickeds, what’s one memory of when you were in school that really sticks out for you? Good or bad, we want to  know!

Barb: Goodness, so many memories. It’s hard to pick one. I’ll go one my friend Hilary tells about me. I think I remember it, though she remembers more vividly. When I was nine, in fourth grade, our teacher asked me to define a saucer. Without hesitating, I said, “It’s a small plate with an indentation intended for a cup.” She says she knew then I would be a writer! (Or maybe, as is a more accurate description, I would spend my life ‘splaining things to people.)

Edith: I love it, Barb! For me, so many goofy moments. When I crawled under the desks to get to the circle rug in first grade instead of going around. When I got hot and took off my petticoat, layering it over my dress instead, and walked home that way. When I showed up at the end of the last day of fifth grade, already knowing I would have Mr. Edward Aguirre for sixth, at his classroom, called, “See ya next year, Eddie!” and dashed away. When I got kicked out of senior year biology for knitting in class (well-deserved). It’s a wonder I ever matured…or have I? Nothing so profound as to predict I’d be a writer, although I was Cub Editor of our school newspaper, the Rampage, my freshman year in high school.

Liz: I’ve actually told this story at job interviews – in my junior year of high school, we had to write a paper about A Tale of Two Cities. Being geeky enough to enjoy that sort of thing, I put a ton of effort into my paper. I’d loved the book, so it was a fun project for me. I turned it in, sat back and waited for my A. When Sister Virginia passed the papers out, I had a C+. I was horrified – and angry. After class, I marched up to speak with her about it. Her response? “This was too well-written for your age group. I thought you’d copied it from the CliffNotes.” Needless to say, she changed my grade!

Edith: Don’t suppose she bothered to check the Cliff Notes and see that yours was completely different? What a nerve…

Julie: Love these memories. And Edith, what a cutie you were! School memories are such a sorted lot. Some good, some bad. I remember trying out for the 9th grade play. I’d never done it before, but just thought I might like it. Plus I liked the drama kids. I was (am still, to a degree) very shy, so it took everything to sign up. Plus, it was for a musical, and my second grade teacher had already told me I couldn’t sing, and I’d believed her. (Still do, probably why I am such a champion for the kids in my life.) Anyway, I did the reading, and the director (English teacher by day) said “that was pretty good, Hennrikus. Would have been better if I could have heard you!” I blushed beet red, stammered, and didn’t get in the show. I did work backstage on costumes, but the theater bug was delayed until my senior year, when I volunteered to assistant direct. I’ve been in love ever since.

Jessie: Like Julie, I was extremely shy and for me, school required a lot of energy to endure. One of my most vivid memories is of my first day of first grade. My teacher noticed a child had scribbled with crayon on the walls of the in-class bathroom. When no one confessed she said we would all have to take turn scrubbing it off. Faced with the threat, a skinny boy with curly hair admitted he did it. The teacher dragged him to the front of the class, yanked down his pants, exposing his bare bottom to us all and spanked him until he howled. I never did get so I liked school.

Sherry: Oh, Jessie that is awful! My second grade teacher should have retired. She’d leave our room for prolonged periods and fall asleep. One day we were standing in line to have our papers graded and she fell asleep. We stood and stood until my best friend Betty picked up a wooden ruler and whapped it down on the wooden desk. Our teacher woke with a start but Betty didn’t get in trouble.

Readers: What’s your vivid school memory? Do tell!