Chances are if you grew up in Paterson NJ in the 1940s or 1950s, you went to a grammar school that had a number attached to it. I remember we would get all of our books for the year on the very first day of school. We were told we had to cover our books immediately with brown paper or there would be a fine. Im not sure how much the fine was because when I came home from school my mother would always say to me Im going to sit right here and watch you cover all your books. And youre not going to move until theyre all done! So somehow Im thinking this must have been a very big fine because she had a very serious look on her face(and I always could tell when she meant business.) I used to always worry that they were going to take away our house if I went to school with my books not covered with brown paper. So my mother would give me the crispest shopping bags she could find in the house for this very important job. I would take a scissors and cut off that thick part at the bottom of each paper bag. Then I would line up each book by placing it in the center of the brown paper. I would cut off any excess paper to make sure each book fit perfectly. I made all of my folds so the book ends slid in just right. And I made sure there was enough room left over for a nice inside flap on each side of the book too. I felt like I was a doctor performing intricate heart surgery. And when I was done covering all of my books, I was so proud of myself - I knew that I had saved our house from being taken away from us for at least another year. We would always get our used school books passed on to us from the previous students from that classroom. There would always be a little index card on the inside of each book cover with all these names crossed off(I was only in the 3rd grade and looking at some of the very old dates, I thought for sure some of these students must have graduated college by now.) Of course we would show the card to all our friends in the classroom and say look who had my book before me. Everyone would laugh and think it was really funny(Im not sure why it was so funny but often it was someones brother or sister who had preceded him and that would always get the biggest laugh.) But there was a very serious side to this little card too. The teacher would threaten us with a near death experience if somehow that little card was ever missing from the inside of any of our books. I was always afraid there was going to be a surprise inspection. So I guarded that little index card with my life! In those years you were graded on basic subjects like Reading, Arithmetic, English, Spelling, Science, Social Studies, Handwriting, Art, Physical Education, and Music. The grading scale was rather simple: A - Excellent, B - Good, C - Satisfactory, D - Poor, F - Failure. You were also judged on Personal Growth and Development(Effort, Conduct, Preparedness, Courtesy, and Health Habits) with either an S(Satisfactory) or a U(Unsatisfactory.) Yes your behavior (it was called deportment in those days) was taken very seriously in the 40s and 50s. I remember everything we did in those days was handwritten as were all the teacher assignments. We learned to write long hand and to write well so that every word could be read. Spelling was very important too. We would often have spelling bees and the winner would be congratulated like he had just won the Nobel Prize. Our Arithmetic studies consisted of the basics — adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. There was no such thing as using a calculator in school and we learned how to add long columns of figures. We learned subtraction, long division(7 divided by 2 equals 3 carry the 1), and the multiplication tables by heart(all the way up to 12 X 12.) There was no such thing as a teacher conference. The only time a parent met with the teacher was if the teacher called about a behavioral problem. And you were really scared if you were told to Report to the Principals Office. You most assuredly did not want that phone call from the Principal to your mother because no matter what punishment you received at school, it was going to be worse when you got home! The basic skills I learned throughout my grammar school years proved to be very important to me throughout my life. So today when Im at the cash register in a grocery store and the young clerk is struggling to figure out how much change to give back to me, I think back to how fortunate I was to be taught arithmetic the old fashioned way and to be able to add and subtract in my head. And then when Im asked paper or plastic?, I always look at all the paper bags next to the register and think to myself Wow that one would have made a great cover for one of my school books. Then I smile and remember saving our house from being taken away from us by covering all my school books during all those wonderful years growing up in Paterson NJ.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 13:58:42 +0000
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