It’s back-to-school time

Hope A. Smith
Published: August 15, 2008

As I sit here pondering what to write about this week, I hear a back-to-school jingle in my head. It’s my favorite — the Staples commercial that sings, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” If I’d heard that as a kid, it would incite me to dread the day that was way too soon to come — the first day of school.

    Even when the Kmart and Woolco back-to-school circulars came out at the end of July, I would always scream, “Why can’t they just let me enjoy my summer?”

If I search the archives of my brain, I can still remember the first day of kindergarten. This thought remains with me: Wow — I have 12 more years of this, at least. And why is that kid over there eating paste?

The first day is always the most exciting or nerve-wracking, depending on the grade. Fifth grade is cool, because you’re king of the elementary school! Then you get knocked back down in sixth grade — you’re low man again until — eighth grade! You’re practically a high-schooler. Freshman year — bam —you’re back down the ladder. They even have that word for it — freshman. There’s nothing “fresh” about being a freshman.

My elementary school was a very simple place — Ashburn Elementary — one class for each grade. No changing classes, the same friends are with you the whole way through, and if you’re the new kid — that was instant popularity!
Once middle school starts, and especially high school, you’re lucky if you see your best pal in one class or possibly lunch break. You’re nearly forced to make new friends. The large schools are intimidating, too. Our high school seemed so big. It would have been nice to have our classes “mapped out” before we started!

Schools are so much more advanced these days. The great thing is that rooms now have to be equipped with air conditioning because of the technology they house. Our high school didn’t get air conditioning until the year after we graduated (the only couple of rooms that had window shakers were the couple of rooms that housed computers).

It was so miserable that one day we seniors arranged a “sit-in,” protesting the fact that we still had school in 100-degree weather. Yes, a sit-in, it was very ‘60s of us. And the only thing that came of it was the threat of suspension if we didn’t get our sweaty bodies back to class!

It’s pretty exciting, though, when you finally go school shopping. There are new clothes to wear, it’s just a matter of fitting in with the fashion. I was so psyched when Kmart started selling designer jeans, my Sassons were the bomb!

Don’t laugh — remember, fashions recycle. We’ll all have the “Jordache look” again soon, count on it.
Back in the day, we didn’t get lists of school supplies ahead of time. You got that list the first day of school, along with a tree-killing pile of papers to bring home to your parents. That evening, there was a mad rush of shoppers securing their Trapper Keeper notebooks, loose leaf paper, and No. 2 pencils. Remember — you had to have those No. 2 pencils so you could fill out the Scan Tron test answer sheets clearly! And, oh, the smell of new school supplies — intoxicating until you dragged the pencil over the paper for the first time.

We nearly broke the bank with our school list. I did finally smarten up, though — I took our list with us on our Rhode Island trip. They have a great discount store (Ocean State Job Lot for any of you New Englanders!) and school supplies are tax-free. We did, however, nearly have to rent a U-Haul to bring it all back.

Kids now have homework over summer break. As a parent, I think this is a fantastic idea. The commercial stating that kids forget a lot over the summer is so true. They almost need a refresher the first week of school. But if I were still a kid, I would think it stinks. Summer is vacation time.

Have a great year, kids, they’ll be crazy, yet fond, memories soon enough!

Hope A. Smith is an
independent columnist and
resident of Orange County.
Her column appears Fridays.  E-mail