I guess everyone likes to be inspired to write about something because they read something they felt they could comment on or relate to. So, I was just reading Tin Man's blog where he talks about his freshman year high school. It was very odd... a friend of mine had told me I should start reading his blog a few months ago, and I have been... and then today, he shared an experience that I have a sort of similar experience with... He was a freshman, but I was in sixth grade. So here goes.
I was a geek when I was little. I probably still am, on some level. I had a really tough time at the public school I attended from second grade on. I was fairly observant at the time, as a Jew, and I was (unbeknownst to me, I think) a budding homosexual. I didn't really like any of my teachers, except the music teacher, and I hated most of my classmates. And to say that I was socially maladjusted would be an understatement. So the straw that finally broke the back was not my math teacher, Mr. McKee, calling me "the rabbi," or the fact that my favorite recess activity was staying inside and cleaning chalkboards. It was the fact that they held auditions for the 6th grade musical, which I'd really been looking forward to, on a Jewish holiday. They let me have a "make-up" audition, but only the music teacher was there, and so it didn't really seem to count very much - and I didn't get a part. I was devastated, and the walls seemed to be crushing in around me. So I went home from school in tears (again, according to my mom. Going home in tears apparantly was a favored activity of mine. I have blocked this out. Probably for good reason.) When I got home, I told Mom that I didn't want to go back to that school. Ever!
My sisters, at the time, were attending the local private school. First thing the next morning, my mother called the admissions office and voila, I had an appointment/interview. Of course I was accepted, and I started right away. But man, let me tell you this: If you ever have a kid who's in just about ANY grade in school, the worst possible time to have him change schools would be the week before Valentine's Day. I got exactly ONE Valentine. (Hey, that's more than I got this year!) And I was socially inept, so you can imagine that I made a really good first impression.
Luckily, a few new people came the next year, for seventh grade, and then a few more for 9th grade. Although one of my best friends left to go to Boarding School in Delaware. He actually ended up at the same school where they filmed Dead Poet's Society.
I still don't have very many good memories of school - a few special teachers that really meant a lot. Luckily, I had a great French teacher, and I now speak French pretty darn well. That's pretty much the main thing from high school that still makes any difference in my life. It's amazing how education doesn't last. I guess it's probably different if you're in a professional career like medicine or law... but for those of us who work in hotels? Well, let me just say, one of my colleagues doesn't even have a high school diploma. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, it's just sort of a viewpoint on what is a degree really for, anyhow?
Hmm... this entry seems really rambling to me. I hope it makes more sense to you.
And I also hope I'm a better adjusted person socially now. I think I am.
Posted by Jon at April 12, 2003 01:41 AM