52 Weeks of Sharing Memories - 9th Grade, Love it or Hate it?

This post is part of the 52 Weeks of Writing our Memories by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy who has challenged us to write our memories for our future generations.

Did I love or hate 9th grade? I hated school in general by the time I got to 7th grade. I felt like a fish out of water. I hated my hair, my clothes, my glasses. At least I no longer had my braces by 9th grade, and I had stopped wearing my glasses unless absolutely necessary (like in the movie theater). I struggled academically, too. I didn't do my homework unless forced to. It took me until 12th grade to realize that I could make all As if I studied. This became a game in college.

I had to take pre-algebra in 9th grade because I did so poorly in 8th grade math. I didn't do well in that class either. One of my fellow students told me I looked smart, so she didn't understand why I had made such a low grade on a test. The class I enjoyed the most was English because I love to read. Mrs. McLaurin was my 9th grade English teacher. I don't remember who my other teachers were.

Image courtesy of tigger11th / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One thing I remember about 9th grade is the substitute teacher for Mrs. McLaurin's class doing a chart of the class cliques. She asked us to choose a certain number of people in the class we'd most like to sit by. Then she showed us the chart. I was shocked to learn that the people who I thought were my friends chose other people! Another blow to my fragile self esteem.

Catherine