All over the city, in the suburbs, out in the rural areas the shout is the same, “School’s out!”
Mothers fortunate enough to stay at home cringe at the change in their daily schedules. Working moms and dads struggle to find a responsible soul to watch over their kids too young to stay alone.
Parents of preteens and teens have a separate set of worries–peer pressure, broken rules, or the cost of camp.
Did our parents experience these frustrations the day school let out for the summer? Did we as parents?
Shouts of “school’s out” reverberated in our neighborhood. Kids talked about the last day of school for six weeks or more. Lots of planning went into the last day as if there were a fancy, dress party scheduled.
Everyone went to pick up their last report card dressed in their finest. Some girls wore brand new dresses and Mary Jane’s. Boys wore the pants and shirts expected only on Sunday morning the rest of the year.
We even took younger cousins or siblings and sometimes good friends with us. For what reason, I still don’t understand other than it was a special day so everybody came.
I went to the same grade school my mom attended from 1918-1924, Ross Elementary, a bastion of education in the Nashville City School System. Architecturally, it looked like a stone fort to its students. But when it was built in 1907, it was considered an architecturally trendy edifice.
The school closed in 1988 at the original site, and a new facility was built on nearby vacant property owned by the school system. Efforts are underway to have the original building and site added to the Historical Register.
Many fond memories are associated with the school and the cousins and friends who also attended there. And as these first days of summer vacation begin, memories have been made for the students of the scholastic year 2014-2015.
What memories do you cherish of your school days? Was the last day of school a special “event” or just an ordinary day marking the beginning of summer vacation?
Lol, you’re right Sherrey. My bad. And yes how strange that might have felt when your dad marries a teacher from your school. I remember thinking teachers were like movie stars; private, mysterious about their real life, and when I’d encounter one of my teachers out in a public place, it was like scouting a famous person. 🙂
Last day was always exciting, and certainly different back then. Also many mothers didn’t work and daycare wasn’t something we ever heard about. 🙂
Be careful, Debby! We’re all dating ourselves here. I don’t remember a single mother in our neighborhood working. By the time I reached junior high, a classmate’s mother had died and her father remarried. He married a teacher at our school. It seemed funny to suddenly call her by my friend’s last name.
Our last day of school always came at the end of May. I thought it was just before the Memorial Day weekend, but I just checked and Memorial Day was not officially recognized as such until four years after I graduated from high school, and it wasn’t a long weekend until 1971.
In any event, I remember nothing about it in later school years, but in grade school we only went in for a couple of hours to clean out our desks, maybe play a few games on the playground, and pick up our report cards. We might have been allowed to wear shorts that day. Finally, I walked out the door with my bag of left-over crayons, ruler, tablets, and such, full of that glorious freedom to “play all day”. I felt so light and jubilant I was sure I could lift from the ground and cavort in the sun-filled air. But it never worked when I tried.
My memory of warm sunshine on my shoulders as I walked home is probably right. It was always warm and sunny in Los Alamos in late spring and summer. And it rained for ten minutes between 1 and 2 p.m. nearly every day.
Sharon, I’ve always held Memorial Day as indicative of the last day of school, and often I find that I believe something was designated much earlier than it was. Freedom resonates at the end of the school year. It’s what we worked for all year long.
Sorry you’re lifting off and cavorting never worked. I would have loved to seen that in action.
The last day of school was quite exciting, but never a special event. It meant we most likely would go the beach almost every afternoon. My favorite part of the school year wa always the first day. That’s when I got to wear a new dress and although I longed for maryjanes, I always had to be satisfied with saddle shoes. Best of all were the new unch boxes, pens, pencils, and erasers.
Oh, yes, Joan! First day of school brought much excitement too. I loved your list of “best” first day items. They were my favorites too. Do you think the pens, pencils and erasers foretold our writing lives to come? 🙂
The last day of school was a highly anticipated and exciting event. For me , it meant I could spend my summer with my maternal grandmother ,Nan which leads to many other stories! Thanks for a trip down memory lane. I have to chuckle at the fact that we got all dressed up on that day. What child gets all dressed up for school today? it’s more likely, dress down. 🙂
Kathy, Nan is key in your life since childhood. She is your anticipation in so many areas. What a love affair! Does anyone get all dressed up anymore? Bob and I try it and then we feel overdressed. LOL! Dress down seems to be the rule of thumb anymore. So glad you stopped by.
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