Me – Around Age 5 – Photo: L. Guerke

How Much Do We REALLY Change?

I want to share something that made me chuckle this week.

My eldest sister, Jane, sent me a card. Interestingly, it had on its front an amazing Monarch butterfly – a particular type of butterfly that had held center stage in a session I’d had earlier in the week. But even though it was a sweet surprise to see that specific butterfly make yet another appearance, that was not what made me chuckle.

No, what made me chuckle was the copy of my Kindergarten Report Card my sister had enclosed. I could tell this was something my mother must have sent her, as not only was it an obviously archaic photocopy (probably one of the first of its kind for use by the general public, given this was school year 1964-1965), but it was also lovingly ‘cut to size’ with pinking sheers.

So many of the photos and newspaper clippings I find from that era have that distinctive jagged edge that was a hallmark of the attention my mother paid to what she considered important in the world.

Not Tons of Pressure, But…

It’s refreshing to look back and see both what I and my fellow kindergarten compadres were graded on back then – and to see that there were only three ‘grade’ choices: S = Satisfactory, I = Improvement Shown, and N = Needs Improvement. Grades were given in several specific subcategories of four main areas of concentration: Physical Growth, Mental Development, Social Adjustment, and Work Habits.

On the four pages of the ‘report card,’ there were stick figures illustrating the subjects. I had to laugh: beside the Social Adjustment area of concentration one stick figure appears to be pulling the hair of another! More troubling, it looks like the hair puller is a lot taller than the kid whose hair is being pulled. Is it fair to assume that it’s the teacher pulling that little kid’s hair? They do have a smile on their face. Yikes!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the area of “Social Adjustment” was where my streak of “S’s” took a hit. Only one “I” (and no “N’s”) – but where do you think it was given? The sub-category of “Is Obedient?” Bzzzzt! Nope!

How about “Is Cooperative?” Bzzzzt! Nope.

No, it was in the sub-category of “Shows Self-Control.”

Oh my. I’m shocked. Shocked, I say! And I have to assert, in my own defense: I’ve come so  far. (Ha ha ha ha.)

Best of All

But what really and truly made my heart skip, though, was reading the comments of my teacher, Mrs. Humes. In particular, her last two sentences made my day – some 55 years after they were written:

“Her only problem is her tremendous enthusiasm (for life in general) which sometimes leads her into trouble ~ she’s working hard to control the ‘trouble spots.’”

If I had to have a problem, I’m delighted it was that. (And for the record, I know Mrs. Humes did not try to break my spirit. A fact for which I’m extremely grateful.)

And to answer my initial question: From experience? Not that much.

(Thanks, Jane! Love you!)

(T-825)