Your Schooltime Experiences

Oscarfan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
7,527
Reaction score
3,957
For me, school was alright. Grade school went fine until there started a divide between cool and uncool kids (me being in the latter group).

High school was much better; more freedoms and more friends. I was 100% not like in movies or TV at all. There were cliques and such, sure, but there wasn't any real form of "cool kids" or popular ones; everyone had friend groups that kind of did their own thing. I will say there were uncool kids and I thankfully wasn't among them.
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
38,848
Reaction score
12,813
If there were any cliques in school, I never saw much of it, however there was some minor "divide," but not necessarily between "cool" kids and "uncool" kids, but rather, jocks and non-jocks. Mine is a very sports-obsessed state (hey, we're home of the Vols; we had Peyton Manning when he was just starting, he's a local hero), but sports are something that you either like or you don't, so that's really about the only divide we had.

But sure, there were certain kids that were more popular than others. I remember in middle school, we had one guy in particular who like the school show-off, yet he was really popular, and I always thought it was crazy how every Valentine's Day, countless girls would mug him with lavish gifts like boxes of candy and giant stuffed animals and such. I still remember in elementary school, we just basically made shoebox mailboxes and slipped folded paper Valentine's with cartoon characters on them in everyone's boxes.
 

fuzzygobo

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 11, 2004
Messages
4,880
Reaction score
5,069
Cliques and bullies still exist, hmmm...this is actually kinda neat, discussing stuff from years ago (decades for me).

The only real bad time in school for me were grades 3-5. All the negative aspects of public school- cliques, bullies, cranky old biddies whose job was to force feed facts and figures and shove them down your throat, and stamp out any spark of creativity, or individualism. Sit down, shut up, keep still.

I still got good grades (especially reading and spelling), but I didn't feel like learning. I still had friends, but I wasn't very social. I didn't like bullies, but I managed to get in a lot of fights. I didn't like getting in trouble, but I was a constant fixture in the principal's office.

The brightest spot in these three dark years was Mr. Gill, the music teacher. In 4th grade I joined band. The Muppet Show was brand spanking new, and Animal became my idol. I got to eat (no,BEAT) drums. At first it was therapeutic to take out your aggressions on drums, but Mr. Gill helped shape it into something more constructive.
Within a year, I was leading our school orchestra on every percussion instrument you can name. Stayed with Mr. Gill through the end of 7th grade. He was my mentor, and I owe him so much.

He also turned me on to all types of music- classical, jazz, Broadway show tunes. Mr. Gill had a huge record collection and he let me borrow quite a few. Being nine years old and getting to hear Miles Davis "Sketches in Spain" was the musical equivalent of Sesame Street. It took your ears on a fantastic trip.

Our crowning achievement, 6th grade, The Muppet Movie was brand new, and we got to do an orchestral version of "Rainbow Connection". Mr. Gill conducted, and for the big concert, Mr. Gill put a Kermit puppet on his arm, so Kermit held the baton and led us.

At the end of the year was Mr. Gill's 50th birthday (we thought that was OLD!!!!) We surprised him with a black Schwinn, just like Kermit had in the movie, and put a little Kermit doll in the basket. Moved him to tears.

Thank you Mr. Gill, for being an oasis in the school desert. I owe you big time.
 
Last edited:

MikaelaMuppet

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2013
Messages
10,583
Reaction score
3,103
One of the things that I remember about school was in 5th grade. There was this presentation in the multipurpose room which was a gym and a cafeteria all in one and it was for the school band. The band teacher was there and she showed us all the different instruments that were available. Really wanted to play either the flute or clarinet and even got really close by filling out this sheet but was told later on that I couldn't due to my conditions that I have. I felt really bad about too and I still do to this day. I just wanted to be in the band so bad.

Oh. And another thing. The teacher showed us this Schoolhouse Rock video on the last day of school as well.
 

newsmanfan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
2,886
Reaction score
1,661
Most of my school years sucked, excepting a few classes in high school, and finally being able to execute my own lighting designs in college. Cliques, teachers stuck in ruts, being ahead of my reading level when younger...plenty of years I've quite happily buried.

One class that stands out, though, was Honors Chem in high school. I was lucky enough to go through Bio 1, Chem 1 &2, and Physics while there were truly excellent teachers in the department...guys who understood that one could hold an honors or AP class to high standards and still have fun.

Teachers Scarth and Fannin had adjoining lab classrooms and a running string of practical jokes. I don't recall what Fannin did to spark this retaliation, but one afternoon, he was demonstrating to his class the extreme volatility of cesium by dripping water from the tap - VERY slowly, mind - into a coffee-can full of the element. Scarth walked in, observed a minute, then exclaimed, "Nah, let's show them something REALLY awesome" -- and he spun the tap on full power.

We heard the explosion on the other side of the school. It took out a chunk of the roof, flattened the can thinner than Beautiful Day being mailed first-class, and gusted dust through the entire science wing.

Have I mentioned my great affection for :eek: and :confused:?
 

MikaelaMuppet

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2013
Messages
10,583
Reaction score
3,103
5th grade: Watched Schoolhouse Rock (Interplanet Janet) on the last day

Unknown grade (forget which one): Watched an episode of Bill Nye The Science Guy

6th grade: Got a lunch detention for (I think) talking back to someone

9th grade: Got in trouble again (Not saying what and why this time)

10th grade: Saw Forrest Gump as a reward by the teacher for the whole class
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
6,418
Reaction score
4,644
You got to see Forest Gump in 10th grade. My mom still won't let me watch it just because of one scene. Ridiculous, I know.
 

Flaky Pudding

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
3,412
Reaction score
2,193
Kindergarten:Watched a Winnie the Pooh film on the last day of school (I forget which one)
1st Grade:Met several of my future best friends
2nd Grade:Had an awesome teacher named Mrs. Gregory who would play the soundtrack for the Pixar film Cars almost every day in class
3rd Grade:Got a custom birthday card with a drawing of me as Link from The Legend of Zelda on it from a girl in my class
4th Grade:Took a field trip to some festival where they made everything look like it was in the 1800s (Kind of like the Pioneer Day episode of Gravity Falls, but only the people weren't THAT dedicated to the festivities lol)
5th Grade:Took my first drama class and played my own comedic spin on the The Big Bad Wolf
6th Grade:Went to a local play of A Christmas Carol for a school field trip
7th Grade:My first year being home schooled :smile:
8th Grade:My beloved dog, Rooster was born
9th Grade:Took a field trip to the Creation Museum in Kentucky
10th Grade:Started taking Spanish classes
11th Grade:Met one of my friends at the local library (who is to this day one of the coolest and funniest people I know)
12th Grade:Watched several episodes of Mythbusters for Science class
 

LittleJerry92

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
15,690
Reaction score
7,705
Well, going back to the day care days way way back, I remember me being the momma's boy I was having fits when she dropped me off (one was actually pretty close to a place she used to work, which she occasionally brought me to and had a little daycare center there; I remember always sneaking out trying to look for her. :stick_out_tongue:) The one close to work I remember more fondly, particularly watching "Sing Yourself Silly" once. I eventually was transferred to another closer to my house just because she didn't like the way it was run (and come to think of it, I think it's out of business now). What I liked about that one was the different colored rooms (red, green, blue, yellow, purple, etc). I remember being in the blue and purple ones. Place was okay but I remember I was kind of difficult to handle there.

My time at kindergarten wasn't that great. I was definitely very difficult to handle (like, I remember having to transfer rooms at one point) and I pretty much ended up having to repeat it at a school closer to my house. My 2nd year wasn't too bad. Could have been a little better, but it wasn't as bad.

Going into elementary was certainly a change. Getting homework, learning to do writing and math, etc. But I'll just give a general statement: my time in elementary school wasn't good at all. I was constantly bullied and had alot of trouble making friends. Pretty much by the time I got into 4th grade, I already had the reputation of being "the weird kid no one likes." I even recall having some embarrassing moments of crying in class for being humiliated (then again, I'm sure we've all been there). By the time I transitioned into middle school in fifth grade, my parents ended up taking me to a learning-disabled school that was pretty far from my hometown, but definitely saved my life, and I ended up giving the school a try for 2 weeks in the middle of 5th grade. But on the subject on my last year in public school, I was definitely on the urge of failing my first year of middle school (I think summer school pretty much prevented that from happening to me; it was also my first time taking it; definitely was a "blah" experience, but eh, helped I guess).

But going into the learning-disabled school starting in 6th grade did help alot. I felt more welcome there. Sadly though, for a few years I did have trouble making some friends (wasn't until like 8th or 9th when I became more social) and that was also the time my mind, becoming a teenager, started to change as well so I did end up becoming a bit of a trouble maker and got my first detention followed by 3 more. 7th grade though was probably my toughest year during my middle school time there because I got 16 detentions, one of which I ended up having to write an apology letter for. My last year in 8th grade was a little more smooth. My only regret though was writing some pretty racist/nasty stuff on the bathroom wall (which, for the record, I never actually meant; I was just bored and wanted an excuse to get out of class). It caught up though when the school had a meeting in the gym about what happened. I'm soooo glad I never got caught. :big_grin:

Coming into high school is where I feel like my mind began to develop, with some perks along the road of course. 9th grade I felt like was my worst year; had a very obsessive crush on a girl a grade ahead of me for a long, long time and by that point finally caught up to me that I was way too obsessed. She eventually found out from this one kid she's close friends with and distanced herself from me (which I can't say I blame her). Took me awhile to eventually move on from.

10th grade though was okay. I did start to really become more open which I liked. 11th grade was decent since I felt like by then I knew who I was and what I wanted to do with my life though at the same time, I did become a little more moody with my parents. I was in that phase of "what do YOU guys know?!" And was kind of a punk to them. 12th grade I had REALLY bad senioritus. By then, I was ready to be done with high school because I began to notice my school's true colors (while I get they are learning disabled, at the same time, I feel they're way too PC and need to chill down a bit), and it was then I also kind of felt like the world owed me everything and became even moodier with the people I didn't like around me (namely some of my teachers and also my parents).

Going into college though thankfully helped me shapen up and become ALOT more mature, much as to how I am today.
 
Top