Times Remembered 4

[Editor's note: This will be a series of stories posted at irregular intervals]

Labor Day, (September 6th this year), marked the first day of school and the end of summer vacation when I was a child. On one hand we looked forward to having progressed to a higher grade with new teachers, new books and the wearing of new school clothes. On the other hand, it meant the end of long days of play, staying up late at night and going barefoot.
School books were provided by the school, but students purchased pencils and tablets.

Many of the children I went to school with did not live in town, but on farms in the surrounding area. They did not go home for lunch like students living in town. They brought lunches and ate them in the large assembly room during lunch hour. Sometimes in snowy weather, town students would bring lunch to school, the occasion being a treat from their usual school routine.

Being on time was a must and there was no dawdling getting dressed and breakfasted. Children living next door or down the street would join us as we walked pass their houses; the younger ones forming a group and we older ones walking together.

There was always homework and each year assignments increased. The load of books carried back and forth to school every day got heavier as the years progressed. Everyone had a desk in the assembly room where books and notebooks could be stored and if homework for a particular class was finished during ‘study time’, that particular book could be left at school.

After settling into the tedium of class routines, we anticipated school holidays. On November 11th, Armistice Day, (known today as Veterans Day), was celebrated by students being called to the assembly room to observe a minute of silent prayer at 11 O’clock. Classes were then canceled for the rest of the day. A two week vacation started a week before Christmas, ending New Years Day. Toward the end of May, each class scheduled a day of picnicking at one of the local parks.

Report cards detailing passing or failing work were sent home periodically for parents to sign and return. If school work had been satisfactory during the year, students were promoted to the next level. Sometimes promotion was contingent on being tutored in a particular subject during the summer.

We welcomed the three months of June, July and August with their seemingly unlimited days of fun and play, but the last days of August brought realization summer was over and it was back to school for another year.

Stack of old books