I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through 8th grade. It was a wonderful experience. Our school was small and I went through al the grades with the same group of kids.
We wore uniforms and of course I always had to get new ones each year because I outgrew them. I had nuns and lay teachers and with few exceptions, they were all wonderful. We did have a few mean nuns, two that I remember well.
Sister St. Joan was a first grade teacher and also taught art. She was short, about a hundred years old, and her face was always red, presumably from all the yelling she did. She wasn't my first grade teacher but I did get to witness some of her infamous discipline techniques. With the boys it was usually grabbing them by the ear and yanking them out of their seat. With the girls, she made you hold out your hand so she could slap it with a ruler.
Sr. Rose did not live up to her name lol. She was mean spirited, always in a bad mood and took it out on everyone. She taught sixth grade and science.
Our school was divided into 2 buildings. The main building housed the office, the auditorium, a small library, and an even smaller nurse's station. I hated that nurse's station. Every year we had to line up and get weighed and measured and have our eyes and ears checked. I remember praying she wouldn't say my weight loud enough for anyone in the line to hear. It was humiliating enough just for her to know it. Grades K through 5 were also housed in the main building. The convent was aattached to one end, this mysterious place where the Sisters lived. I remember being so fascinated by the nuns and the convent. I only went in there a few times but I loved seeing where they lived. One thing that sticks out in my mind was their dining room table. It was beautifully set with china and each setting had their own individual crystal salt and pepper shakers. I thought that was so cool!
Next to the main building was our church and on the other side of that was a small building called the annex. This is where grades 6, 7, and 8 were taught.
Recess meant going outside and playing on a large blacktop, part of which doubled as a parking lot for the church. We girls jumped rope and played endless games of jacks, the boys usually played tag or touch football. Around 5th grade we got a tether ball and let me tell you, that was a HUGE deal! We would stand in line just hoping to get to play before recess was over.
We didn't have any type of gym or PE. We also had no cafeteria or lunch room. Everyone brought their lunch in brown bags or lunch boxes and we ate at our desks. I can still smell the scent of bologna and tuna fish in our classroom every day at noon. Another big deal happened around 4th grade. They started serving pizza and hamburgers in the auditorium on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wow, we really thought we hit the big time!
It was a very sheltered environment and I loved it but it did little to prepare me for life outside of those buildings. A life where kids could be very cruel, where racial tension existed, where what you wore could make or break you in social cliques, where lunch meant eating outside and smoking cigarettes. A life where almost all the kids drank beer and smoked pot, where gym meant dressing out in hideous uniforms and participating in things like hockey and softball and running for God's sake!
More later...
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