It’s
been a real pleasure reading about older kids and how they think. When I was going through my early grades, I
remember believing I was alone, but not lonely.
My siblings had cousins to go to school with, but I didn’t. I spent most
of that time playing alone. I wondered how that affected my adult view. I don’t mind being alone, as a writer that’s
part of what I need to do. However, I
wonder what would have been different if I had a bunch of kids around me.
I wasn’t the most social child. Up until third grade I had one friend—we
played chess during recess. She might be
considered “slow.” I went through
bussing, and interestingly enough, I think I discovered social skills from that
time. Kids from the inner city were
bussed into the suburbs and vice versa.
I was one of the kids from the inner city and going into the suburbs, I
bonded with other kids from my school.
There was a sense of Us vs. them mentality.
Race is still an important issue to
me and I’m sure that time had left an indelible impression on me. I think the teachers at the time did their
best with what they knew. I wondered how
we would have treated this issue today.
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