By now the school year is in full swing. Students have decided if they like their classes and their teachers.
Going to a Catholic school back in the 1950s meant having a teacher clothed in a black and white habit with only her face and hands showing. The teachers at Christ the King School in Rutland were from the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Their garb wasn’t a complete surprise to students as most of us had seen the nuns at Mass.
If your teacher was kind and made learning a fun experience then you looked forward to going to school each day. Our first grade teacher, Sr. Gerard, met all those requirements! I loved school. My cousin, Betty, had some reservations about being there. She wanted to follow Sr. Gerard everywhere including the kitchen. At a teacher conference the nun told Betty’s mother that the only place she didn’t follow her was to the bathroom! Later in life, Betty turned out just fine. She became a very independent and outgoing person. It just took awhile. (Since Betty reads Mountain Times I will certainly hear about sharing that story!)
Back in the 50s it was rare to have a lay teacher. I had my first experience in the 6th grade with Mrs. Noonan. Another unique experience that year was being in a double grade. The 5th and 6th grades were taught in the same classroom. I quickly learned that there were very few girls in the 6th grade with last names toward the end of the alphabet like mine. I remember not being happy about being separated from my friends.
Apparently I wanted to be a “published writer” back in the 8th grade. One day after school another girl and I brought an article about our upcoming graduation to the Rutland Herald. I had written the article and my friend just came along for moral support. Apparently the newspaper had no problem publishing it. However, the principal, Sr. Saint Michael did! There was an assembly in the school basement the day the article was in the paper. As I was leaving she beckoned for me to get out of the line and go to her. She said, “Well there’s my little reporter!” She promptly told me that I needed permission to publish any article about the school. Then she smiled and said, “Good job…just don’t do that again!”
Leaving Christ the King and moving on to Mt. St. Joseph Academy (MSJ) was a fun experience. Most of the students in Rutland’s three Catholic elementary schools continued their education at MSJ. It didn’t take long to make friends from the other schools. We wore uniforms back then. They consisted of a green jumper with a white blouse and a sweater that could be either green or white. No problem figuring out what to wear each morning… We all looked alike and I think it’s fair to say that it was a long time before most of us selected any green clothing when we went shopping, MSJ had mostly nuns but there were a few male and female lay teachers. We could choose college prep classes or business classes. The college prep classes were all on the second floor and business classes were on the first floor.
A whole new world of knowledge opened up as we learned another language and did experiments in science labs. We changed classrooms throughout the day and had lockers for our books and coats. There was a little of the “devil” in some of the students as they smoked a cigarette in the girls’ bathroom. Kids will be kids and they were usually caught as the faculty checked the bathroom periodically.
For the boys there was the opportunity to play team sports. The girls could be cheerleaders and lead the school cheers while joined by fans in the bleachers. If you were a music lover you could join the marching band and girls could become majorettes. There was a glee club for those who wanted to sing. I tried joining it but each year I was told my voice hadn’t changed yet! I thought that was a “guy thing!” I admit that I can’t carry a tune but I wanted to be with my friends. There was actually a club for just about everything, which meant that your high school life could be very full “back in the day.”
College school days in the ‘60s will be the topic for a future column!
