For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 08, 2022

Some kids thought of school as a second home…I thought the library was a second home

even my old high school in Lewis County, Washington got a major remodel. last time I went with my dad when passing town, it hardly looked recognizable back in my days attending it and when he was principal-ing it.

I guess that’s Candace. I suppose this means that she has patched things up with Elizabeth and Dawn since last year when Elly told Elizabeth to stop hanging around Candace.

It’s like being sent back to jail…

When going to school always wanted to Run away from home

Yeah..no it wasn’t. I hated that school with every fiber of my being. ( Catholic girls high school in the 1950s)

It honestly was back when I was in school and probably is. Reuniting with everybody coming back.. then the souless grind of the education system sets in but hey, at least the company was good

Because my father was in the Air Force, we moved a lot. (Most military brats from that era share that experience.)

I started second grade in the same school as first grade, but we moved after a month. Did not repeat a school until 8th grade which was at my second school from 7th grade. I started high school in 10th grade and remained to graduate from it because my father had retired,

People used to ask if it wasn’t hard to make friends. No, making friends was no problem. The problem was that you did not get to keep them. But, it was the way our lives were and I don’t recall anyone getting too upset about it. Kids are adaptable, more so than adults.

I never felt as Liz does; I LOATHED school!!

Especially the first day, when teachers assigned hours of homework!!

Not sure if I agree with Elizabeth—’it’s like coming home’ but back in 2013, we returned to our high school for our 50th reunion and were surprised that it was still there. The school board had been debating tearing it down and building new but then found out that for less than half that cost they could add some new classrooms and continue with the basic same building. And we, who were members of the ‘inaugural class’ were welcomed like ‘rock stars’ by the then Principal ! ! ! !

This is simply Lynn Johnston’s nostalgia from her childhood talking here.

My 7th grade building was my parents and grandparents junior high. The 8th grade building was their high school.

I never looked forward to going back to school, lived for vacations and last day of school. Left last day of 12th grade and never wanted to see the building again – 50th class reunion (never went to it or any of them) had a “tour” of the old HS – not sure why anyone would want to tour their old HS, you can’t go back to the years you had there, to me it would be depressing to remember being that young and all we did 50 years ago, but not being able to be that young and do those things again

My middle/high school never looked the same from year to year. They kept adding to it. New wings, new auditorium, new gym/locker rooms, new pool, new band/orchestra/chorus rooms, new football field, etc. Every year was a new construction. At least we didn’t have trailer classrooms back then.

It’s been several decades, but the last time I tried to visit my old high school I wasn’t allowed in because I had no appointment and/or had no child there. Fortunately for the students, there was more than one door they could exit from in case of fire, but still…

My high school turns 100 next year. I haven’t been back in 48 years, but I think I will go when they have an open house. I remember going back to visit my elementary school and junior high shortly after I moved on from them and everything seemed so small. I wonder if that will be the case in the high school? When I see that they rearranged the trophy case in this comic, I wonder what will be left from the years I went to school and when my parents attended 80+ years ago.

Boy, a bunch of us are oldtimers!

I always looked forward to the first day of school. New school outfit, new school supplies, new teachers…unfortunately, same old bullying students. I don’t know why I looked forward to it.

Great commentary on why “At School” socialization is so important.

It’s always interesting the first day back, to see who’s there, but then it wears off & I was sick of school again.

Home for those that want and cherish and education, he!! for the multitude that don’t.

Home was never that great, either.

Candace seems unusually positive.

I went back for my 55th reunion (boarding school). The dorm rooms still had that quintessential Soviet-style bare-boned starkness.

School, your home away from home…

The smell of refinished hall and gym floors.

After the first tough test is announced,this attitude will disappear.

My mother was the first girl to graduate from the parochial school that my kid brother and I attended. Her father, like many of the other men in the parish at the time it was built, contributed sweat equity to its construction.

There were some ancient nuns still teaching when I was there in the 1950s that had taught my mother – and Mom said that they were old when they taught her back in the 1920s!

My mother always said that the reason she was the first girl to graduate was not that she was the brightest but she was the shortest!

The school opened in 1922 and is still going strong 100 years later.

Home #2.

And by the end of the week, if not sooner, the novelty wears off.

.. says the future teacher.

Last time I saw my old high school, it was changed to an elementary school!

Well, well… a harbinger of what is to come…

Elizabeth, do you hate your mother?

After reading through these (mostly negative) comments and memories, I feel like the odd woman out. I loved being in school and getting an education. I was shy and somewhat socially awkward, but I was a good student and had a feeling of belonging while in the classroom.

Must be having a much nicer experience than I did in high school.

Aww! ❤️