I must not run in the halls OR is it "talk in class"???
I guess to tell the truth, I was a BAD kid and I guess in alot of ways I still am. I have always had the mentality that "I'm goinna do what I want to do and NOTHING is going to stop me." Of course this got me into ALOT of trouble as a young kid in school and the punishment was usually being sent to the Principals Office for "Licks" (These were the days they could beat on you) or writing sentences OR Both. I had my share of BOTH let me tell you. Nevertheless, It DID NOT change me one bit - as if beating a horse will change it from being a horse right? I am a Hellion and I always will be. PERIOD.
I think I have mentioned this in a previous blog here, in anycase to repeat, I threatened to smack my 1st black teacher I ever had in the head with my black George Foster Louisville Slugger Baseball bat if she didnt let me go out for recess with all the other kids. I'm guessing she didnt want the bat because she let me go out and play. However, when recess was over I was sent to the Principals Office and they called my parents and said "Come pick up your kid". The options were State Reform School or Private School......and thus began my illustrious stint in Private Christian School.
Private Christian School was basically a concentration of the worst of the worst male kids and it must have been a real feast or famine for the females looking back on it. So there I was going to church 5 days a week and it all effected me none the least, I was still the Hellion I always was and of course this was frowned upon and I got beat and had to write punishment sentences.
So there I am doing what I do best - raising Hell and there they were doling out the punishment due. At one particular point I had emassed some unimaginable amount of lines to write - something like 5,000 or some shit. Well one night my mother came into my room and saw that instead of doing my homework I was doing this writing and I explained to her if I did not get it done I wouldnt be allowed to go out to recess. I'm sure she looked at the huge figure and surmised that I'd probably be 40 yrs old by the time it was completed and that I'd NEVER see the light of day on a playground ever again. So imagine my mothers point of view paying something like $500 a month (in 1970's dollars) and here I am NOT getting an education BUT tasked to do this repetitious punishment writing. She was pissed and rightfully so. Phone calls were made to other parents and the outrage snowballed.
Alot was going on that I wasnt privy to, but I distinctly remember my big sister who worked as a para-legal coming to me telling me to write the punishment lines on each side of a sheet of paper and then giving it to her. Then the following day I received a HUGE stack of papers that she had made copies of and I was instructed to take them to the teacher which I did = "HERE. Heres your papers." dropping them on the desk with a thud. (I was ONLY in the 6th grade and I think because I was so small my venom was concentrated).
All Hell broke loose with the male teacher protesting that it wasnt written and my mother countering that it wasnt typed and he had asked for 5,000 written lines and there they were. And that was that as others followed the lead producing similar copied papers and we had a full playground of happy screaming kids.
Now as you might have already guessed, this freedom did not last long and little Hellions will be little Hellions and there we were back indoors writing - this time entire paragraphs of shit out of books chosen at random each day. Teacher Check and Mate right?.... Not so fast. Several small battles do not win wars and at the end of the school year ALOT of the parents removed their kids from the school, including mine, siteing this incident and this particular teacher as the reason. Well do the math @ $500 a kid per month x 8 months x 8 or 10 kids and THIS is costing Jesus ALOT of "Jesus Money". I heard the teacher was fired but it still didnt matter as we all marched across town to the other Private Christain School where we did what we did and found ourselves in another square walled room writing punishment lines during recess and before and after school.
The moral to this story????.......Evil Never Dies? You cant change the color of the Sun? Dont bite the hand that feeds?.....I dont know, take from it what you will. All I know is that it was ALL a big waste of time and I'm not referring to just the punishment writing but school in general. I have probably learned way more from watching The History & Discovery Channel & National Geographic than I ever did in 11 yrs of school. Thats right- 11yrs. I realized it was all bullshit and told my parents as much and told them I was joining the Navy where I promptly was taught to type, computer literacy all the while taking college classes rehashing the same BS from High School & getting paid to do it and see the world. Meanwhile I imagine that some of my friends were left behind in a square walled room writing away "I must not talk in class"
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class....
I think I have mentioned this in a previous blog here, in anycase to repeat, I threatened to smack my 1st black teacher I ever had in the head with my black George Foster Louisville Slugger Baseball bat if she didnt let me go out for recess with all the other kids. I'm guessing she didnt want the bat because she let me go out and play. However, when recess was over I was sent to the Principals Office and they called my parents and said "Come pick up your kid". The options were State Reform School or Private School......and thus began my illustrious stint in Private Christian School.
Private Christian School was basically a concentration of the worst of the worst male kids and it must have been a real feast or famine for the females looking back on it. So there I was going to church 5 days a week and it all effected me none the least, I was still the Hellion I always was and of course this was frowned upon and I got beat and had to write punishment sentences.
So there I am doing what I do best - raising Hell and there they were doling out the punishment due. At one particular point I had emassed some unimaginable amount of lines to write - something like 5,000 or some shit. Well one night my mother came into my room and saw that instead of doing my homework I was doing this writing and I explained to her if I did not get it done I wouldnt be allowed to go out to recess. I'm sure she looked at the huge figure and surmised that I'd probably be 40 yrs old by the time it was completed and that I'd NEVER see the light of day on a playground ever again. So imagine my mothers point of view paying something like $500 a month (in 1970's dollars) and here I am NOT getting an education BUT tasked to do this repetitious punishment writing. She was pissed and rightfully so. Phone calls were made to other parents and the outrage snowballed.
Alot was going on that I wasnt privy to, but I distinctly remember my big sister who worked as a para-legal coming to me telling me to write the punishment lines on each side of a sheet of paper and then giving it to her. Then the following day I received a HUGE stack of papers that she had made copies of and I was instructed to take them to the teacher which I did = "HERE. Heres your papers." dropping them on the desk with a thud. (I was ONLY in the 6th grade and I think because I was so small my venom was concentrated).
All Hell broke loose with the male teacher protesting that it wasnt written and my mother countering that it wasnt typed and he had asked for 5,000 written lines and there they were. And that was that as others followed the lead producing similar copied papers and we had a full playground of happy screaming kids.
Now as you might have already guessed, this freedom did not last long and little Hellions will be little Hellions and there we were back indoors writing - this time entire paragraphs of shit out of books chosen at random each day. Teacher Check and Mate right?.... Not so fast. Several small battles do not win wars and at the end of the school year ALOT of the parents removed their kids from the school, including mine, siteing this incident and this particular teacher as the reason. Well do the math @ $500 a kid per month x 8 months x 8 or 10 kids and THIS is costing Jesus ALOT of "Jesus Money". I heard the teacher was fired but it still didnt matter as we all marched across town to the other Private Christain School where we did what we did and found ourselves in another square walled room writing punishment lines during recess and before and after school.
The moral to this story????.......Evil Never Dies? You cant change the color of the Sun? Dont bite the hand that feeds?.....I dont know, take from it what you will. All I know is that it was ALL a big waste of time and I'm not referring to just the punishment writing but school in general. I have probably learned way more from watching The History & Discovery Channel & National Geographic than I ever did in 11 yrs of school. Thats right- 11yrs. I realized it was all bullshit and told my parents as much and told them I was joining the Navy where I promptly was taught to type, computer literacy all the while taking college classes rehashing the same BS from High School & getting paid to do it and see the world. Meanwhile I imagine that some of my friends were left behind in a square walled room writing away "I must not talk in class"
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class
I must not talk in class....
Labels: The Bullshit of school
posted by Mark Scott at 6:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home