Back to School

I actually remember a little bit about my very first day of school — kindergarten, 1960. The baby boom was in full swing, of course, and our elementary school was so overcrowded the school district rented the basement of a local municipal building for the half-day kindergarten classes.

I don’t recall crying my first day but I’m sure I joined the chorus. The best parts about the whole experience was wearing new clothes, riding a bus with the bigger kids and being greeted as somewhat of a celebrity by my baby brother who pretty much thought I had entered the world of work and instant adulthood.

Later “first days” were always full of excitement. Usually the weekend before school started (my parents were never those who wanted to rush it), we went back-to-school clothes shopping. Being the oldest, only girl and only one of two kids, I got no hand-me-downs. Of course, limited resources meant I didn’t get everything I wanted and had to wear plenty of out-of-season or tight fitting dresses from the previous year, but I still made out well compared with many of my friends who had older siblings.

My mother, however, was a very practical sort. She tried to send me in corduroy pants but the school sent me home with a note saying pants on girls, except on gym day, were not allowed. She settled, then, for plain corduroy jumpers and serviceable, but clunky Buster Browns.

While I loved clothes shopping, I hated getting my hair cut for school because I would always get what was known as a “pixie” cut. Ever practical, my mother would take me to the barber instead of a beauty salon for this very short cut. In fact, the barber used a shaver on my neck.

Even now, the thought sends shivers down my spine. Back in the highly gender-defined world of the early ‘60s elementary school, the very last thing a kid wanted was to be mistaken for the opposite sex. Much to my utter humiliation, I was told “you look like a boy” often, especially on gym day.

Still, while I hated the little humiliations that are part and parcel of school life, most of it was fun and, overall, I looked forward to starting a new grade (and sometimes a new school) each September.

—Betty

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