Post by debutante on Aug 25, 2013 15:16:26 GMT -5
There is a point to all of the following, I assure you.
This morning I tackled another box of things that were brought over from my mom’s house when she passed away. It’s a long process sorting through all that stuff – so I have to be “in the mood” and seldom do more than a box at a time.
This was some box. It contained childhood “memories”, or more appropriately what my mother considered memories. In reality, anything I really wanted – I’d saved myself. This was – quite frankly a box of evil. It contained things that never should have been (if that makes any sense). I can only surmise why my mother kept them – she was, as I said before, not the most balanced of people. To her, I imagine this box was some kind of “proof”.
I think I may have mentioned before that I have an almost pathological dislike of grammar school teachers. I probably never said why – although if you had been with me this morning going through the “box of evil” – it would have become abundantly clear. I attended a Catholic grade school – and believe me there is a REASON I never sent my children to one.
I don’t know if what happened during my grammar school years is unique to Catholicism. I suspect it isn’t – and probably takes place in many faith based schools, as well as secular ones. Still, I was unwilling to chance my children’s mental health on the Catholics until my kids were well past an impressionable age.
I do not understand (and frankly, have never understood) why there is no regulation in place to assess the sanity of people who teach small children. It is assumed that if a person graduates from university with a teaching degree, they are “qualified” to deal with young minds. I beg to differ. All people have “baggage” – some less in quantity than others, some of better quality. It’s when you get someone who comes into the profession with too much of the wrong kind of baggage that problems occur. They project their issues on to the children in their care and problems arise.
I suspect (although I cannot prove it) that criminality in individuals is (in some part) the result of childhood school experiences. In short, the perceptions of a teacher (in regard to a particular student) can if the student is young enough – literally make or break the child.
Today, in the “box of evil” – I read the perceptions of one Sister Francelma in regard to myself at the age of 11. I find it interesting that of all my grammar school teachers, this particular one is the one whose name I could never recall. Considering what I read – I imagine I repressed it.
I don’t know WHO this woman was describing. I do know that it certainly wasn’t me. I was not a “bad” child who “straightened up” as an adult. I was a child who saw things quite clearly and simply didn’t have the sense to keep my mouth shut. So if I saw something I considered unjust – I would blurt out my opinion. Nuns DO NOT like children with opinions. Thus, they are labeled “bad” and everything they do becomes magnified out of proportion. It affects everything – including grades – because after all, how can a “bad” child be a “good” student?
I had to laugh at some of the things she wrote. Apparently, according to her I never read books! Now mind you, I read constantly as a child – so much so – that my mother used to grab books out of my hand and tell me I’d ruin my eyes. She’d try to force me to go outside and play instead. Anyhow, that was the most absurd comment of them all. The rest were just an assessment of my anti-social behavior, my lack of application and misuse of any talents I possessed (well, I have to give her credit for at least admitting I had talents), and my general disinclination to follow her “rules”. I don’t recall her “rules” offhand, but I know that as I child if I was disinclined to follow them – they were probably either stupid, or destructive in some fashion.
My point is, IF I were actually the person Sister Francelma described – I would most likely have ended up in prison. It boggles the mind to see this report card and all the evil assessments spewing forth from this servant of God. Everything in that box related to that time period. All of it was collected (and apparently preserved) as “proof” I was this terrible person that must be beaten into submission.
Well, I don’t believe I ever reached the stage of submission (despite the fact that I was beaten more often than not by everyone around that period of time). I learned simply not to express opinions out loud. But I never changed any of them. I bided my time for the day when I would be grown-up.
Anyhow several points can be gleaned from the “box of evil”:
1. Parents really shouldn’t keep any mementoes which are not truth based. Such things could be destructive if the person hasn’t worked out issues related to the time period in question. I laughed when I read this garbage the nun wrote. Twenty years ago, I’d have become depressed.
2. I think it’s long past time that psychiatric evaluations be required for all people who wish to work with small children.
3. Parents really should question their children in regard to what happens in school. If a teacher shows a pattern of irrational “judgments” – the parent should take steps to protect the child.
Anyhow, the contents of “the box of evil” have been dumped into the garbage (where they should have been placed some fifty odd years ago).
This was an interesting (if bizarre) trip into the past – although I really have to wonder whose past...
--Debutante
*child of the devil, according to Sister Francelma *
This morning I tackled another box of things that were brought over from my mom’s house when she passed away. It’s a long process sorting through all that stuff – so I have to be “in the mood” and seldom do more than a box at a time.
This was some box. It contained childhood “memories”, or more appropriately what my mother considered memories. In reality, anything I really wanted – I’d saved myself. This was – quite frankly a box of evil. It contained things that never should have been (if that makes any sense). I can only surmise why my mother kept them – she was, as I said before, not the most balanced of people. To her, I imagine this box was some kind of “proof”.
I think I may have mentioned before that I have an almost pathological dislike of grammar school teachers. I probably never said why – although if you had been with me this morning going through the “box of evil” – it would have become abundantly clear. I attended a Catholic grade school – and believe me there is a REASON I never sent my children to one.
I don’t know if what happened during my grammar school years is unique to Catholicism. I suspect it isn’t – and probably takes place in many faith based schools, as well as secular ones. Still, I was unwilling to chance my children’s mental health on the Catholics until my kids were well past an impressionable age.
I do not understand (and frankly, have never understood) why there is no regulation in place to assess the sanity of people who teach small children. It is assumed that if a person graduates from university with a teaching degree, they are “qualified” to deal with young minds. I beg to differ. All people have “baggage” – some less in quantity than others, some of better quality. It’s when you get someone who comes into the profession with too much of the wrong kind of baggage that problems occur. They project their issues on to the children in their care and problems arise.
I suspect (although I cannot prove it) that criminality in individuals is (in some part) the result of childhood school experiences. In short, the perceptions of a teacher (in regard to a particular student) can if the student is young enough – literally make or break the child.
Today, in the “box of evil” – I read the perceptions of one Sister Francelma in regard to myself at the age of 11. I find it interesting that of all my grammar school teachers, this particular one is the one whose name I could never recall. Considering what I read – I imagine I repressed it.
I don’t know WHO this woman was describing. I do know that it certainly wasn’t me. I was not a “bad” child who “straightened up” as an adult. I was a child who saw things quite clearly and simply didn’t have the sense to keep my mouth shut. So if I saw something I considered unjust – I would blurt out my opinion. Nuns DO NOT like children with opinions. Thus, they are labeled “bad” and everything they do becomes magnified out of proportion. It affects everything – including grades – because after all, how can a “bad” child be a “good” student?
I had to laugh at some of the things she wrote. Apparently, according to her I never read books! Now mind you, I read constantly as a child – so much so – that my mother used to grab books out of my hand and tell me I’d ruin my eyes. She’d try to force me to go outside and play instead. Anyhow, that was the most absurd comment of them all. The rest were just an assessment of my anti-social behavior, my lack of application and misuse of any talents I possessed (well, I have to give her credit for at least admitting I had talents), and my general disinclination to follow her “rules”. I don’t recall her “rules” offhand, but I know that as I child if I was disinclined to follow them – they were probably either stupid, or destructive in some fashion.
My point is, IF I were actually the person Sister Francelma described – I would most likely have ended up in prison. It boggles the mind to see this report card and all the evil assessments spewing forth from this servant of God. Everything in that box related to that time period. All of it was collected (and apparently preserved) as “proof” I was this terrible person that must be beaten into submission.
Well, I don’t believe I ever reached the stage of submission (despite the fact that I was beaten more often than not by everyone around that period of time). I learned simply not to express opinions out loud. But I never changed any of them. I bided my time for the day when I would be grown-up.
Anyhow several points can be gleaned from the “box of evil”:
1. Parents really shouldn’t keep any mementoes which are not truth based. Such things could be destructive if the person hasn’t worked out issues related to the time period in question. I laughed when I read this garbage the nun wrote. Twenty years ago, I’d have become depressed.
2. I think it’s long past time that psychiatric evaluations be required for all people who wish to work with small children.
3. Parents really should question their children in regard to what happens in school. If a teacher shows a pattern of irrational “judgments” – the parent should take steps to protect the child.
Anyhow, the contents of “the box of evil” have been dumped into the garbage (where they should have been placed some fifty odd years ago).
This was an interesting (if bizarre) trip into the past – although I really have to wonder whose past...
--Debutante
*child of the devil, according to Sister Francelma *
