HOW SCHOOL SHAPED MY LIFE
Not the way you might think.
Kindergarten didn't have much to do with it. Although I distinctly remember my close friend Dick McLafferty and I manuevering on the mats at nap time so we could look up the teachers dress as she passed. Then we would compare notes afterward. Fun times.
No, it was in the first grade when they introduced numbers. We were given pencils with thick, soft lead and beige paper with wood fibers stuck in it. The teacher showed us how to write numbers to 10. That was our assignment.
That was easy so I continued on until I got to 99 and then, I must confess, I was stuck. She had shown us two digit numbers and I honestly couldn't figure out what came next. Everyone has their limits.
I asked for help. She maybe thought I was stuck at 8. I heard her gasp when she saw I was stuck at 99. When she reached down and added a third digit to my numbers, in a flash, I saw INFINITY!!!
No, that's still not what shaped my life although that helped. It was the next day when the class assignment was to write numbers to 20.
It was then I discovered that I had a low threshhold of boredom. I have spent the rest of my life trying to escape being bored and succeeding occasionally.
Kindergarten didn't have much to do with it. Although I distinctly remember my close friend Dick McLafferty and I manuevering on the mats at nap time so we could look up the teachers dress as she passed. Then we would compare notes afterward. Fun times.
No, it was in the first grade when they introduced numbers. We were given pencils with thick, soft lead and beige paper with wood fibers stuck in it. The teacher showed us how to write numbers to 10. That was our assignment.
That was easy so I continued on until I got to 99 and then, I must confess, I was stuck. She had shown us two digit numbers and I honestly couldn't figure out what came next. Everyone has their limits.
I asked for help. She maybe thought I was stuck at 8. I heard her gasp when she saw I was stuck at 99. When she reached down and added a third digit to my numbers, in a flash, I saw INFINITY!!!
No, that's still not what shaped my life although that helped. It was the next day when the class assignment was to write numbers to 20.
It was then I discovered that I had a low threshhold of boredom. I have spent the rest of my life trying to escape being bored and succeeding occasionally.
posted by Walter Guest at 4:19 PM
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