For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 10, 2015

At least she’s blonde and cute. That counts for plenty, even in grade 1.

She’s learning what the Real World is about. A lot of strange things that aren’t under our control…

Only the Kindergarteners were confined to their own playground at our school. Grades one through six all used the same playground.

I have a friend that told me that he flunked kindergartenbecause he wouldn’t take a nap when he was told to.

We had staggered recess times—1st grades, then 2nd grades, etc. each for fifteen minutes to keep the older grades from ‘bullying the younger grades’ !

I remember 1st grade so very clearly. And we were in the older section. It had character. I didn’t know what character was, but I knew I liked it.

Lynn’s Notes:

In grade one, it’s cool to be at the front of the line. This coveted spot was fought over. Kids nudged and jostled each other until one held the spot — undisputed. I wanted to be first in line so badly I couldn’t stand it. One day, I made it to about sixth, and just as we all stopped shoving, the first kid in line brought up his lunch. The next kid turned green and went to the back of the line and so did the next. This went on until I was first in line. I couldn’t believe my luck! I didn’t care about the barf, in fact, I leaned over and shouted to everyone, “Guess what! It was macaroni and cheese!” At this, two other kids threw up. “Weaklings,” I said to myself as the doors opened. The line began to flow around the offensive patch and into the building with me in the lead. From then on, I claimed first place whenever I wanted it. I’d earned the right.

Our playground was a parking lot with a barrel that was used to burn trash. We had wax candies with juice in them. We would drink the juice and light up the wax.

Ours started in kindergarten – alphabetical order. .As we marched around the room – the boy that was always just ahead of me had almost always peed his pants or maybe mom didn’t wash/change them everyday. Very vivid memory from so long ago – this would have been in the late 40s.

This is the future teacher. Wonder what she would have done as the teacher of this class?

I always hated alphabetical order, because I was always near the end of the line (first name or last name). When we went somewhere, the best seats went to Albert Aardvark and Betty Bulldog and the like. The best snacks went to those “privileged” people, too. We got the leftovers.The one time a teacher (2nd grade, I believe) put us in reverse alphabetical order, the spoiled brat “elitists” with “A” and “B” names had a tantrum you wouldn’t believe… so the teacher never tried it again, leaving us “S T U V” etc. people in the back of the bus for the rest of the year.

In Catholic school we were put in line bt height. I was always near the back – one more thing to hate about Catholic school.And, yes, some are very good schools. If you go to Catholic school on the “wrong” side of town, all they teach is how to kneel and accept your fate.Public schools down south are intergrated, but many Catholic schools in NO are not(at least into the 90s). They had black students and black nuns, even the priest was African American.

I spent grades K through 8 at the back of the classroom because our last name started with Y. About the 5th grade, I asked the teacher if I was in that spot because she didn’t like me. She explained the alphabetical order, which every single teacher followed. Trouble was, I was near legally blind and couldn’t even read what was on the chalkboard. It was a mystery to me, that other kids could. In 7th grade, people came through and tested our eyes and then I got glasses. I was happy for middle school when the alphabetical thing went away.

We had a case where they put the pre-school next to the high school. Some of the football team literally ran over a kid in his designated playground, dislocating his elbow. The first the parents knew of it was when the kid got home three hours later.

Always amused by the Canadianisms like “grade one” instead of first grade, or “first bell” instead of “first period.” Actually, that one may vary by region even within the US.

i was the kid who was always picked last for choosing teams. EVERY SINGLE TIME!