As August would be leaving and Labor Day would arrive a word entered our vocabulary that we the young would use until it would almost be worn out. The word was school.
That word would creep in and then dominate the conversations of all children and parents alike. Right after Labor Day the doors to the school would open and the big yellow buses hit the road to hunt us down and deliver us to the opened school doors.
My first seven years I attended Moscow and the last five years I attended Felicity. Both schools were well thought of and considered excellent bodies of education. But I am going to tell you here and now that I really wasn’t excited about attending school. I liked the student bodies and the extracurricular activities and sometimes some of the events that took place in the classrooms. However the reading all that reading, writing and Arithmetic was so very greatly overrated. I mean it just seemed like a lot of hard work and hey, who really needed that. More socializing and less test was my view on the entire topic.
I have said before I was the youngest of three children. My sister Peg, my brother Ben and I were the entries from our home. For Peg and Ben school was a learning breeze and they acted as if they liked that learning stuff. As for me I approached it with more caution. There always seemed that there was a trap in displaying lots of enjoyment in learning. When a school year began I didn’t rebel and refuse to attend school but on the other hand I just got on the bus and went to school. I have always felt there is something good to almost all things put on this Earth. School was one of them I guess. Compared to days on the family farm when the countryside was in school and the weather got cold life could and would become very dull and lonely. In school there were lots of kids my age to play and visit with. Even if I had to learn my spelling words, and memorize historical dates I still got to talk it over with some of the other children. I think it needs to be understood that back then as it is today I love to converse with those around me. It shouldn’t be a surprise but yes I like to talk. Just how else is a person to learn about other folks if you don’t draw others into conversations. It is how the world learns about the rest of the world now isn’t it?
With each year from first grade through 12th grade when hearing that Labor Day was upon us I would go into a little melancholy as I knew what was next and there was just no way around it. That was until I go into the upper grades. Since my dad raised a lot of tobacco I was needed at home until all the crop was in the barn. So with a smile on my face and a note from my dad in my hand I would make my first day of school appearance and deliver my get out of school note to the principal! That note could buy me more than two weeks off from school time. (O the bonus of having agriculture as a way of life). The down side was that all missed lessons became make up work and homework. Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard of anyone ever saying how much they enjoyed homework? Of course not and I was no different.
I do have to admit I did pass all my subjects and as far as I know I really wasn’t a discipline problem. I looked at school as one of the evil necessities in life. So I didn’t make a big fuss about attending (my mom was one of my teachers) as doubted I would convince the adults it wasn’t needed. As for Peg and Ben they excelled and when you excel in education the educators just like you more and more and for me, I think they thought well their little brother is a good kid and very friendly and loves to talk but he isn’t the student they are. Probably the truest statement about me but please remember even though that start of a school year does put a damper on Labor Day but school really is a need that fortunately our society delivers to our youth so functioning in this big ole world is possible.
We don’t have to like the system as I did but it must be accepted if one is to get by in this life. This is where things get serious for a moment. Education is very important but for me it just wasn’t enjoyable. It is very possible that if when I attended school there had been a debate team I very possibly would have found my reason for perfect attendance!
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and likes to share stories about his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com
