A very timely Friday Five from Mother Laura this week. Here are the graduates of my primary class going back to school many years later.
1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How's it going so far?
How could you know? This very afternoon I submitted an application for a Head of Department position at a local University. I met with some of the staff last week and was really impressed at the integration of personal and professional development within the curriculum. For those who follow my ramblings - yes this is a surprise. I had just started 2 days a week in Palliative Medicine when I was approached to consider the Uni position. In the short term I can continue both part time. But come the start of the new academic year in February I'll need to make some changes.
2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
I was generally pretty happy to be going back to school.
3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
I don't remember any from my childhood. Getting the uniforms drycleaned is almost a ritual in our home now. YES the students do wear uniforms to school in Australia and New Zealand!
4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc?
Well that would be the uniform :-) I loved the lunches my Mum packed for me but I don't remember the boxes particularly.
5. What was your best year of school?
I loved my first year at school with Miss Hull who wore amazing large flowery dresses (it was the 60s !) And when I started post-grad studies in Public Health I had a huge sense of being where I belonged. Both were excellent years. But for attachment to place it would have to be that little country school (below) where I learned to love to learn.
19 comments:
There is a certain something with country schools. At the one I attended grades 1-5 were all in the same room. Maybe a total of 20 students. I remember having 2 other classmates in the 3rd grade. Thanks for stopping by my place. Congrats on the new position.
We had five classrooms yet there was some of the same feeling.
Love that school picture, we wore uniform too.
I think we are very similar to UK in that regard. Different from USA :-)
Exciting news about the new position. Good luck! Your school sounds like it was a wonderful place.
Miss Hull! I love it. I wonder if she was a distant cousin.
No uniforms for me, and I only ever went to larger city schools...
Thanks for your visit!
Good luck with the job position! I am in the midst of job applications for university positions myself...
Good luck on the new position. Wow!
Wonderful pictures, thanks for playing.
Blessings on your new job!! Surprise ones are often the best.
My son has uniforms now and I do believe he is really proud and happy to wear the uniform clothes. Lord knows my pocketbook is benefiting.
All the best with the job application - how flattering to be approached to apply. And what weird timing ! Hope the new job is going OK regardless.
And yes, back to school memories are about school uniform for me too - although the blazers and berets of my youth look a bit antiquated compared to the sweatshirts and bookbags of today !
Great play and great news about the new job possibility! Hope it works out for you.
Thanks for all your overnight visits. Ruth - she was known as Peggy - but I'm not sure what her full name was. I find the uniforms hard on the pocketbook with the upfront expense - but then plain sailing as only need to purchase occasional new shirts, socks and tights. We had berets and GLOVES in my day. Our girls still have blazers and pleated skirts - I must say sweatshirting sounds easier to wash. And thanks for all the good wishes. I'll keep you posted on my blog.
There was a big article in our local paper about school uniforms -- mainly the paper's laziness as only the Catholic school around here has uniforms and they probably haven't changed since 1950. But there are a lot of choices in uniform now. One thing was that a lot of Catholic schools are going to pants or shorts (Bermuda length) for girls, to avoid the "rolling up the skirt" problem. (We did have a rule about skirt length in my junior high school.) Anyway, great play, always good to hear from a faraway place!
Yes, Good luck with the new job. Is palliative medicine what I think it is?
You reminded me of the skirt rule AK - we had to kneel and the teacher measured to make sure our skirts weren't too short. When my mother was at school in the forties (and skirt fashions were long) they had a maximum length (ie not allowed skirts too long). Bizarre. PC Pall Med is providing care to improve quality of life for adults with limited life expectancy and support for their families. Pain relief a big component - also mamangement of other symptoms.
I became too disabled to go on working six years ago, and it's actually the little things I miss most - small talk with children in the halls, making them laugh, finally giving in to a bunch of kids with no particular need to see me at lunchtime...
Yes Paul I can imagine how you would miss those things so much. The seldom noted, certainly not in the CV, treasured moments of our days. I wonder what those lunchtime talks included :-)
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