I went to school with our new Governess during a time from 1987-89, when she was a junior and I was a seventh grader. It was the time the family thought I needed to leave a parochial school where I was consistently hitting top grades and had an established rivalry on the spelling bee, math drill, and reading drills each day it seemed with two girls. It was becoming the Bobby vs Stephanie vs Amy show. Someone was going to battle for the win. One of the three would win each drill. That rivalry died with the family decided to transfer me out.Somehow the family thought there would be better waters, and I was an unhappy kid. The results were true to what I had feared. The worldview taught in that school's classes were different (environmentalism in our math and science books – activism that shouldn't be there, and praising the Left in every civics class, teaching the virtues of government). On the social side, some kids decided to exploit me, punching, pushing, shoving me every time they could, throwing my glasses into urine, defacing books, attacking me at every bend, even fondling breasts and racial chants at every attack (which I couldn't strike back under fear of suspension; I promptly labeled the worst offender the “Ayatollah Khomeini”; the teacher, whose son later played in MLB, knew the name but the kids didn't even know who the real Ruhollah Khomeini, at the time a public enemy on the levels where Usama bin Laden is today). I feared for my life (there were kids who drew me being attacked by them and dying in their assaults) and couldn't study with that attitude the kids had since if I made on move I would face being pushed to the wall, breasts fondled, punched, or any form of attack. Grades dropped as I could not study under threat of their arrogance. Eventually the last straw was a bleach attack aimed at me.
Government school was called in, but it never helped either. To this day I wished I had finished in the same parochial school where academics were rigorous, and fundamentals were taught, not the fringe leftist feelings. But in schools that use government school curriculum (some college prep “private” schools do so too), they never teach that because of the self-esteem ideals of the Far Left. An ego-driven narcissm was taught and few understood it.
I just cannot believe how I was treated in school when the future Governess of South Carolina was in school with me. Sad, sad state of affairs. Now it's worse in our schools. We have liberal activists who are newly empowered laws they passed in the Pelosi-Reid-Obama era to punish anyone not in their clique. But that's for a later discussion. (Photograph of the Governess of South Carolina courtesy the victory party, is from my personal collection.) ◙
