Grade three blues: Georgetown, Ontario, 1960-61
Many of us experience life, and especially childhood, as a sort of punctuated equilibrium, where “earth-shattering” events intersect stretches of uneventful time.
My childhood in Georgetown experienced a seismic shift in Grade 3 in 1960-61 for two reasons: firstly, I unilaterally changed my name from Robert or Rob to Bob, a comic rendition of which you can read about here:
What’s in a name? Grade 3 identity crisis in Georgetown Ontario and beyond
And because I became obsessed with going to Toronto with my classmates.
This idea dogged my waking and sporadic sleeping hours.
Our teacher, Miss Hunt, promised to take us all on a trip to the big city, some 45 or so minutes by train, if everyone in the class got a perfect score on the weekly spelling bee.
I had a bee in my bonnet and laboured mightily to master the lists doled out by Miss Hunt.
Here are the sorts of words we had to learn:
But I or others would always flub at least one word and we never reached the unattainable level of perfection that Miss Hunt require and, I suspect, never expected.
The promised trip was a pedagogical tool in the form of a chimera, which often turned classmate against classmate and which we kids eventually experienced as very cruel.
Your friend,
Robert
Robert McBryde – robertmcbrydeauthor.com
For funny images concerning my audiobook launch, click here:
Audiobook Valentines Day Launch – Robert McBryde
