Vice Principal UnOfficed

Before She Was My Mom, She Was a Student: Nana’s School Days - Part I

• Lisa Hill • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Have you ever wondered what school was like long before smartphones, Wi-Fi, and Google? Join me, your host Lisa Hill, for a 2-part episode as I sit down with my co-host—and my mom—to take a hilarious and heartfelt trip back to when she started school over eight decades ago. Hear stories of chalkboards, recess games, and school days that make today’s classrooms look like science fiction. This is Vice Principal UnOfficed like you’ve never heard it before! 

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Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

Have you ever wondered what school was like long before smartphones, wi-fi and Google? Join me, your host, lisa Hill, for a two-part episode as I sit down with my co-host and my mom to take a heartfelt trip back to when she started school over eight decades ago. Her stories of chalkboards, recess games and school days make today's classrooms look more like science fiction. This is Vice Principal on Office like you've never heard it before, so let's get laughing and learning. Attention students, I mean listeners. The stories in this podcast are told from the host's personal and varsical point of view. All names and identifiers have been omitted or altered to protect identities. Now get to class and enjoy the show. Hello folks, welcome back to Vice Principal Unofficed.

Speaker 1:

By now I'm sure most every K-12 public school across the country is up and running for the next nine months or so. My interim principalship is moving along nicely. I love the staff, students and community, and this new job of mine makes the sixth school district I've worked in during my 39 years in K-12 public education. So when I thought about heading back to school yet once again, I thought about my mother. You know my co-host. I wondered what her K-12 public school experience was like. I mean, the woman entered school as a kindergartner in 1939. That's the same year the Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind movies came out and Germany invaded Poland, triggering the start of World War II. Triggering the start of World War II.

Speaker 1:

Clearly my mom, who is known to most everyone as Nana, has to have some very interesting stories about her K-12 school experience, which is why I've decided to interview her for today's episode, and I titled this episode. Before she Was my Mom, she Was a Student, nana's School Days. Of course, knowing my sweet mother, I really wanted to call this episode. The stuff my 90-year-old mom shares about growing up in the Midwest is some strange shit you just can't make up. Thank God I was born when color television and air-conditioned homes were the norm, because I don't think I would have survived. Anyway, get those earbuds ready and get ready for a two-part episode for an interview with Nana.

Speaker 1:

Hi, mom, I want to thank you for joining me today. First of all, how are you doing? I'm doing well and it's a beautiful day. It is a beautiful day. You can definitely tell. Fall is in the air. But I also want to thank you for participating in every single episode of Vice Principal in Office. It means a lot to me that you're part of something that I love to do, but you've always supported my creativity and different adventures that I've taken with my career. In fact, you even watched me defend my dissertation. That was one weird day. And now here I am, out of retirement and back in public education once again, and you're still cheering me on, but I think it's time for you to be in the spotlight. So thank you for being my guest and continued co-host and sharing stories about your K-12 educational experience. I think this is important because most people your age haven't shared what school was like for them, and most people under 60 wouldn't believe how much things have changed, wouldn't you agree?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, it is different because it has to be different. There have been so many advances. Yes, it is very, very different.

Speaker 1:

So let's get started and talk about that different. Here's my first question what's the very first thing you remember about your first day of school?

Speaker 2:

I vividly remember that day. My mother was swinging me in the swing and I was crying. I had wanted to go to school so badly. But then we're there and I realize she's going to leave and leave me at school, but you managed to survive.

Speaker 1:

So once your mother left you at school, what's the first thing you remember about being inside the school?

Speaker 2:

I love that school building. I remember going in and I could pick out my desk and it was official.

Speaker 1:

I was a student and, truth be told, I know you were a very good student. But before we get into that, let's talk about the actual school building. So schools being built in the 21st century are pretty fancy. What was your school building like?

Speaker 2:

The interior, the blackboard went the entire width of the building. The one side had windows all along that side and because we didn't have another kind of heat, there was this big contraption and it had a shield around it so we wouldn't get burned. But it was coal-fired or wood-fired and it was the teacher's responsibility to keep it going in the winter, teacher's responsibility to keep it going in the winter.

Speaker 1:

Thank God those days are over, though. I have had to mop up kids' puke before, but I've never had to throw a log on the fire to keep the building warm. Let's talk about you as a student. So you're finally a grade schooler. Can you share your routine for getting ready for school each day? And then, how did you get to school?

Speaker 2:

I looked forward to getting dressed for school and in the wintertime I had to wear these long brown stockings and they were not easy to get on. So I would be sitting on the floor in the living room and my brothers would be having their breakfast and they would be making fun of me for trying to get my stockings on. We walked to school. It was a little over a mile and didn't matter the weather. We walked.

Speaker 1:

That's how we got there and here we are in today's world and kids can't even walk a block to school because parents are too scared or kids are too lazy, or both, Anyway. So how did your school day start? You walk to school. You get there, and then what happened with a one-room schoolhouse?

Speaker 2:

We would all go outside, no matter the weather, raise the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Speaker 1:

I suppose you can do that when you have a one-room schoolhouse of about 30 kids. I can't even imagine that today. So then what happened?

Speaker 2:

happened back inside and the teacher that poor teacher, um, she would start with usually with the eighth graders and their math or their english or whatever they were studying, and I would listen intently, I just had to know what was happening. But but she would take, and there might only be two people in eighth grade, and then back to the seventh and so on. My kindergarten class, there were three of us Myself, rosemary- and Junior.

Speaker 1:

This is starting to sound like the plot of some kids movie. Anyway, when you start at school, besides Rosemary Jr and you, how many total students attended the school?

Speaker 2:

The total school, I would say there were probably 15.

Speaker 1:

So 15 students and one teacher Did that one room. Schoolhouse really only have one giant classroom. Wasn't there a side room or something?

Speaker 2:

It was just one big classroom, just for everybody kindergarten through eighth grade.

Speaker 1:

Bless your little teacher's heart, but I need to hear more about your classmates. Can you tell me about Junior?

Speaker 2:

Junior Morton was his name and he was this pale, lanky boy and he wasn't what we might call bright, but he was there to learn. And in the winter the older boys built a fort out of snow and it was quite a project, but they wouldn't let any girls in. But they finally decided they would let me go in and explore this fort if I would kiss Junior on the cheek.

Speaker 1:

Ah, now the real stories about Nana come out. So did you kiss Junior on the cheek?

Speaker 2:

I did because I wanted to see that fort that everybody was talking about.

Speaker 1:

Poor Junior, or should I say poor Nana? Anyway, let's talk about the teacher at that time. What's the most memorable moment you have about your teacher in that one-room schoolhouse?

Speaker 2:

She was very young. She'd had exactly six weeks of training to become a teacher, had exactly six weeks of training to become a teacher and I've had the feeling even then that she'd rather be someplace else.

Speaker 1:

I can't blame her for that. I can't even imagine trying to contain and teach students grades kindergarten through eighth grade all at the same time. Anyway, what happened to the students in that one-room schoolhouse after they completed eighth grade?

Speaker 2:

They would ordinarily go on into Derby to high school and that was an event to start high school after going through country school. I remember thinking I wouldn't know as much as the kids who'd already gone to the school in Derby, but I did. I found out I'd had a good education.

Speaker 1:

Why do you think you had a good K-12 education?

Speaker 2:

Well, every day in country school. I saw and listened to all the other students in whatever grade they were in. I listened and I learned from that and then when I got to high school, it just continued. We were one big assembly in high school. All grades 9 through 12 were in this huge assembly and I loved school. I absolutely loved school.

Speaker 1:

Why do you think you loved school so much?

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of it was being around all the other students and it was kind of a social thing for me and we had really good teachers, good instructors, and at that time they were all male. It was just such an exciting thing for me. I wasn't home, I was with people. I think that was it?

Speaker 1:

Do you think you like spending more time at school than home? Because home made you sad since your father died when you were in country school, and school also provided you many male role models.

Speaker 2:

You know, I really think it did. I was treated with respect. They were people I looked up to and they were mostly quite young.

Speaker 1:

It is true that teachers can have a lasting effect on their students. I'm glad you had a good experience with most of your teachers. Can you tell me about your favorite teacher of all time? Can you tell me about your favorite?

Speaker 2:

teacher of all time, that would have to be Mr Swan. He was absolutely brilliant and he tolerated no intolerance absolutely. But he was so wise he just could impart what he wanted us to learn and we learned it. His name was Daryl Swan and he said you could call me Principal, you can call me Mr Swan, don't ever call me Swanee.

Speaker 1:

The ornery side of me would have had to have called him Swanee, but as my mother, you already know that. So what did old Swanee teach, and why was he your favorite teacher, besides the fact that he was strict?

Speaker 2:

He taught biology and I loved that subject and it was just a joy to work with him. We knew we were going to get tests over all the materials, so you better retain it. He had a wonderful way of teaching. I always meant to send a thank you note to him after I was out of high school, but I never did it. I wish I had.

Speaker 1:

What about Mr Swan's teaching style was so different from your other teachers that he made you want to learn from him and respect him.

Speaker 2:

He taught with emphasis. Whatever he said, you better hang on to because you were going to learn from it. And he, I could tell, enjoyed teaching. He was there to impart his wisdom to the students. That was his goal and that's what he did.

Speaker 1:

Did you have a teacher that you really disliked? And if you did, who were they and why did you dislike them so much?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I had this teacher. It was a woman. I don't know where she came from, but she somehow landed at our school and she would bring her son with her and when we had lunch, and if we had pork and beans, she always gave her son that piece of fatty whatever it was that made the pork and the beans, and he always got to have a drink of water first, and it was so obvious to me that she gave him the advantage in everything. But fortunately, after one year she left. I don't know where she went and I don't really care, but no, she wasn't a good teacher, she really wasn't. She was just there. Oh, and then one day there were the two sisters, the Jones sisters, and Catherine was the older and Irma was her little sister, and Catherine got sick and had to go home, and Irma the parents had been so strict about their eating their lunches that they brought from home, and so Irma decided well, I have to eat Catherine's lunch too. And she cried but she ate it.

Speaker 1:

Good Lord, what could this poor girl's parents have possibly done to her if she decided not to eat the extra lunch? Sounds like the teacher's son would have eaten it Anyway. So that was your experience of lunch in a K-8 school setting. What was lunch like at high school?

Speaker 2:

At the high school we had hot lunches and if I would wash the dishes from lunch I would get my meal tickets at no cost. And that was important to my mother because she saved that money and bought me a new winter coat and I didn't like doing the dishes but I did it.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to guess there are people out there who don't realize that when you went to school there wasn't a free and reduced lunch program that the government helped provide to students in need, so you had to wash the dishes. Were there other students in your school that had to wash the dishes in order to get free lunch?

Speaker 2:

There was one other woman, and she was my best friend and the lady who was the head cook. Let us know that we weren't drying the silverware well enough and it was going to be rusty. So, no, we were probably the most poverty-stricken family in the school district, because all the other kids seem to have lunch every day.

Speaker 1:

I know the answer to my next question, but can you tell everyone why your family was so poor?

Speaker 2:

Well, first of all, my father died when I was 10 years old and we lived on this 80-acre farm that had very little acres that could be farmed, so there was not much income there, and my father was a World War I veteran and my mother got a check because of that. Each month she got $50. My mother got a check because of that. Each month she got $50. And we had cows and milked those and sold the milk and the farm brought in some money. But basically that was what kept us going, was that $50 a month check.

Speaker 1:

Not to get us off topic, but can you tell us a little more about your father, my grandfather, who was a World War I veteran?

Speaker 2:

Yes, giulio was his name. He was born in Italy. When he was 17 years old he ran away from home. He found a storage ship of some kind I can't even imagine what that trip was like and he went through Ellis Island and became a citizen of the United States States. And he had been here a few years and he fought in World War I and he was a hero and had the medals. He was my hero.

Speaker 2:

And he came to the United States. He lived in New York City for a while and, as I understand it, he had a candy store that he worked for. And then he had relatives in the Midwest, especially Des Moines. They were cousins and so he decided he would come to Des Moines and he was a coal miner at first and he worked the mines and he worked hard and he earned enough money that he bought a car and my mother was working. Well. Julio lived in a boarding house there in Lucas, iowa, where John L Lewis started the coal miners union, and my mother worked as a waitress there at the boarding house and that's how they met and I think she probably thought oh boy, he has a car. And they fell in love and got married and I'm sure glad they got married.

Speaker 1:

Their romance was quite a tale that needs to be told at some point. I mean, who elopes and doesn't tell anybody for four months? Anyway, I think we'll just focus on your school experience, mom, though it seems I've created too many questions. So I think this is a good time to stop and take a break. But don't worry folks, nana and I will be back in two weeks, on September 23rd, for part two of Before she Was my Mom, she Was a Student Nana's School Days, because, as you can tell, school life in Nana's days provided some great stories and shit you just can't make up Lisa M.

Speaker 2:

And shit, you just can't make up, lisa M.

Speaker 1:

Well, kids, the dismissal bell is ringing. So until next time on, vice Principal in Office, push in your chair, put your name on your paper, be kind to your classmates, put your phone away and use your indoor voice, or not. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoyed the tales from Vice Principal and Office as much as I enjoyed sharing them. And it is also my hope that you were not only entertained by this episode, but that you walked away with a little nugget of knowledge that gave you some insight on how working in a school is not for the faint of heart and, as I've said before, life is short, so you gotta do the best you can to leave the world in a better place than when you got here. And, of course, for the love of God, see the humor in life. It's a lot more fun and a little easier to get through the ick in life with a smile on your face. Catch you next time on. Vice Principal on Office. Next time on Vice Principal on Office, join my mom and me September 23rd for part two of Before she Was my Mom, she Was a Student. Nana's School Days. Until then, keep laughing and learning. Hey, students, I mean listeners. Thanks again for tuning in and if you've enjoyed today's show, please leave me a review. It really helps grow the show. And don't forget to hit the follow button so you don't miss an episode. Trust me, you don't want to be late for this detention and listeners. If you've got a school story of your own that you think would fit vice principal on office, I'd love to hear it. Just head to my podcast website and send me your story and, who knows, your story might even get a shout out in a future episode. Thanks so much for listening and for your support.

Speaker 1:

Vice Principal on Office is an independent podcast with everything you hear done by me, lisa Hill, and supported through Buzzsprout. Any information from today's show, along with any links and resources, are available in the show's notes. So if you want to do a little homework and dive deeper into anything I've mentioned, head over to my podcast website and check it out. And a big thank you to Matthew Chiam with Pixabay for the show's marvelous theme music and, of course, a huge shout out to my mother. This podcast is for the purpose of entertainment only, like the recess of your day, and not a platform for debates about public education, though you never know, you could learn something, and just a reminder that the stories shared in this podcast represent one lens which is based on my personal experiences and interpretations, and also reflect my unique perspective through humor. Names, dates and places have been changed or admitted to protect identities and should not be considered universally applicable. Until next time, keep laughing and learning.

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