Man, you guys had it EASY!
I went to a Christian school. When my parents applied for me, they asked how many of the kids went on to college. The principal said that most of the graduates had gone on to college. I later found out that only one had, and that had been to the local Bible college. When I applied to the state university, I was denied entry because our school was unaccredited. When I told my friends at school about this, the principal called me a bald-faced liar. It was four years before another graduate tried to gain entry to a state university, and when she was denied entry as well, I was finally vindicated.
This principal was the biggest liar I’ve ever met, and she claimed to be a Christian. She never liked me because I questioned every “fact,” and this showed that I was rebellious. She tried to break up any friendship I had by calling the parents of my friends and saying absolutely horrible things about me. I never knew what exactly was said about me (the kindness of my friends’ parents wouldn’t allow them to repeat it) but I know what she told my parents about my friends . . . she actually called my mother and told her that she should keep me away from my best friend because my friend had leporosy! I kid you not! Leporosy!
The best example of how this woman ran the school is defined by this story. It didn’t happen to me, but it did happen to my best friend, April.
We sat in little booths, with walls between us so that we could not see one another. We didn’t have a “teacher” per se, but rather little booklets with text, followed by questions. When you finished the booklet, you took a test over the material. One could get very bored in such isolation, and often, mischief was too great a temptation.
April was in her little booth, getting bored and restless. She turned, and threw an eraser at a boy across the room. He yelped, and the principal demanded to know who had thrown it. April, knowing that she could be paddled for this (the paddle, I swear to God, had the words “The Rod of CORRECTION” written on it, with a round “surprised face” drawn beside it with tears running down the cartoon cheeks) sat silently. The teacher demanded again to know who was the guilty party. When no one came forward, the principal declared that there would be no recess for anyone until someone came forward. April was even more frightened at this point.
The next day, the principal again asked for the guilty party to come forward. She made everyone lay their heads on their desks and close their eyes so that the guilty could come forward in anonyminity. April again did not move. She knew that at this point, she was facing expulsion. The principal promised that the guilty would not be punished, she just wanted to know who had done this. April was not fooled. When no one confessed, recess was again denied to all. They were not even allowed to leave the booths for lunch, but had to eat at their desks, munching in silence.
Days passed. Weeks passed, and the principal became angrier and angrier that no one was confessing. Alternating threats with offers of clemmency, the principal threatened to shut down the school until this had been sorted out, and make every student go before the board and deny their involvement. April was now terrified. She had no idea that this would go so far. A month had now elapsed, and the pressure was intensifying.
One morning, April came in to the school to find a large white posterboard tacked to the wall. On the top in big bold letters it stated “IN JESUS’ NAME, I DID NOT THROW THE ERASER.” Each student was in turn handed a red marker, which the principal said, in dark tones, represented The Blood Of Jesus, and any person that falsely signed their name and innocence to the board in The Blood Of Jesus would go straight to hell when they died, because they had committed an unfogivable sin. April signed.
All of the children had signed. The principal counted the names, and gave a deep sigh. She sat down, defeated, and announced that no earthly punishment could compare to the eternal one facing the guilty and thus, recesses and lunches were resumed, and they would hear no more of the matter. But, she continued, if the guilty came forward, there would be no repercussions, and the matter would be well and truly settled, and swore that no one else would ever know.
April waited until everyone had left for recess, and came forward. The principal just thanked her, assured her that no one would ever know, and sent her outside. The children came back after recess, and the principal sat them down. “Well, I found out who caused all of this trouble,” she announced. “It was April! So, if you’re angry about missing your recesses, you know who to blame!”
The school was extremely conservative. Forbidden were even DISCUSSING movies, books, rock music, or dancing. You could be expelled if someone saw you doing one of these even after school hours. Even Christian rock music was forbidden because it had “the appearance of sin.” We read “Heidi” for eleventh grade literature, and even this had a disclaimer in the front cover, declaring that the philosphies therein
were not necessarily that of the school’s. We were forbidden to read anything other than approved books by Christian authors. Our history books contained glaring errors and omissions. A John Wayne western portrays better history than what we were taught. Extremely euro-centric with a heavy dose of “This happened because it was God’s will.” (Tests were very easy. “Why did we have a Civil War?” Answer: It was God’s will.) Science I will not even bother to describe, because I think that it is apparent what that consisted of.
If I were not a voracious reader, I would be an ignoramus. Most of the graduates of my school went on to illustrious careers with McDonald’s. A few went on to the local Bible college, but they were all males. Females were told that the only acceptable careers were as a Sunday School teacher, or a preacher’s wife.
And you guys think YOU had it bad!!!
