Eighth grade, 1956-57, Dubose Jr High School, Alice, Texas Eighth grade meant going to Dubose Jr High School which was the school farthest from where we lived. Although there was no problem walking the distance to and from school, the problem was lunch period since it was too far to walk home and back for lunch. More often than not, I would spend my lunch breaks under a tree on the school grounds, waiting on the other kids to finish their lunch. There were bushes with red berries in the school yard that we would pick and throw at each other. One day, a teacher caught me picking the berries and sent me to the office. During questioning, they asked me where I ate lunch, and I told them I spend the lunch break on the school grounds and do not eat lunch. I must have looked hungry because I was asked if I was picking the berries to eat and were concerned about my not eating lunch. They told me they would let my teachers know I would be working in the cafeteria every day so that I could get free lunch. As a cafeteria worker, I was allowed to leave class a few minutes earlier than the rest of the students. I had no idea what I would be doing or how to go about doing it, and too embarrassed to ask. Although my teacher was letting me out early so I could work in the cafeteria, I never showed up. I would spend most of my lunch period hiding in the bathroom. I had made straight A’s since the first grade and I was still making straight A’s except for one class - math. This math seemed to be different from all the other math I had studied before, and the teacher was not one to help the boys. Whenever a girl raised her hand for help, he was there in a heartbeat, but if a boy raised his hand, he was ignored. I remember once I had been holding my hand up for a while and I was not paid attention to. A girl who sat two aisles away from me raised her hand and the teacher immediately went over to see how he could help her. The girl told him it wasn’t she who needed help, but “that boy over there (pointing to me) has been holding his hand up for a while.”. I didn’t flunk the class, but I was recommended to take general math in the ninth grade. The two teachers that I most remember are Mr Daly, Math; and Mrs Burris, English. Mrs Burris was the mother of Sam H. Burris whose career included county attorney for Jim Wells County, assistant attorney general for the State of Texas and district attorney for the 79th Judicial District of Texas.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 18:40:27 +0000
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