School Memories

 My pal Mark Evanier posted on his blog about his elementary school experiences. Now, Mark and I are almost the same age (just a few months separate us) and, while his early years were spent in Los Angeles and mine on Staten Island, NY, certain of our experiences are similar.

Like Mark, in the middle of first grade, I was moved ahead one year, largely because my reading level was far in advance of my classmates'. And, again like Mark, I had a lot of trouble fitting in. (Fortunately, I never had to deal with the "sitting alone at lunch" thing; on Staten Island, those of us who lived within walking distance and had a parent at home, went home for lunch.) I was never athletic (still am not) and I was always the last one picked for any team sport (even when the sport was co-ed).

Dodge ball was a particularly rough game for me. I don't know what balls they used at Mark's school, but in my gym class it was volley balls. Ever get hit by a really hard-thrown volley ball? I can tell you it hurts like hell. Because of all the same things Mark discusses--envy of my "brain" status, being an outsider among older kids, and, in my case, being pretty small, physically--I was the favorite target in dodge ball.

Unlike Mark, being funny and witty never helped me get along. It just made me stand out as different. Even when my artistic talent blossomed, that was no help. In the late '50s and early '60s, boys weren't supposed to be "artistic"--they were supposed to be strong and athletic and physical. And moving to junior high didn't help...because most of my tormentors just came along and spread their dislike of me to the kids who came from other schools.

And while I had a few teachers who liked me, it seemed that most just saw me as a distraction. I was the kid who, first of all, didn't fit in and, second, needed special handling because of his intelligence. In a class of 35, they didn't have time for that. And certainly my principal never stepped in the way Mark's did.

Yeah, over all, my school years were pretty awful.