School Revisited

Blog prompt: Schools Revisited

Furman University: I loved my college life! It was my first experience with independence (800 miles away) and I made so many friends. Those were good years. I loved it so much that I got my master's degree here and I was married at the Bell Tower on campus. I even am an adjunct instructor here teaching courses to teachers who are getting their master's degree in special education.

High School - those years are fuzzy. My oldest sister died right before I entered high school so everything is blurry. I had transferred to a new school in a different district (for reasons you will see as you read on) and it was hard making new friends. I did have a best friend in high school called Bunny and she helped me survive. I was so advanced that I took all AP courses in 12th grade and had early dismissal. I was also part of the drama club which helped since my parents were extremely overprotective.

Junior High - Horrible. I hated every minute of it but the event that clinched the whole thing was a major gang fight that I was innocently involved in. An acquaintance who walked the same way I did to get home somehow was walking with me this one day. Apparently she said hello to this other girl's boyfriend (known bully who was a couple of years older than us but had been held back for a couple of times). This bully and her gang of girls confronted the acquaintance and me (since they thought I was her friend). Since I was a chicken, I remember knocking this boy off his bike and riding home. My dad put the bike in the car and drove me back up to the scene. When I gave the bike back to the boy, I tried to get the acquaintance in the car but she refused because she didn't know my dad (stupid!). We left and the next day I found out the acquaintance was in the hospital with a broken collarbone, broken arm, broken leg, internal injuries, and kicked so much between the legs that she would be unable to ever bear children. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck the rest of the year. Of course I was also shocked when the victim came back from the hospital and became friends with the bully. I knew I wanted out of there, so we used my sister's address so I could go to a high school in a different district.

Elementary- elementary school was good for me except 4th grade. This was the year that influenced me to become a teacher. We had a teacher (I still remember her name(s)) and she was engaged, married, and divorced in the one year that we had her. She came to class with sunglasses a lot and physically abused us by slamming students in the wall or jerking them out of the chair by their hair if they gave a wrong answer. She threatened to kill us if we ever told anyone and I don't think any of us ever did. In fact, I never told anyone about this until I was married after college. I had the beginning of an ulcer that year but I was the perfect student with straight As. I swore that when I grew up that I would become a teacher and my students would never be afraid of making a mistake.

Photo credit: Furman Bell Tower from Furman Alumni Page