Today is the first day of school in New York City. The New York Times has a look at the first day in photographs through the decades. I like seeing the classroom windows (1957), the marbled composition-notebook (1961), and the briefcases (1961, 1975). Not book bags: briefcases. In the 1960s nearly every boy in my school, P. S. 131, Brooklyn, carried a briefcase. Was it a New York thing? Moving to New Jersey meant ditching my briefcase — one of many varieties of culture shock.
Here in east-central Illinois school begins in mid-August, with oppressively warm classrooms and early dismissal as the norm. A post-Labor Day start seems to me sane and humane.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
NYC schooldays
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 4
No idea what my school district does now, but we used to start the Tuesday after Labor Day. It felt like the right time to go back to school. In mid-August I was still in summer play/fun mode.
Wikipedia (to my amazement) has an article on the first day of school. According to this article, a post-Labor Day start is apparently still very common in the U.S.
Post-Labor Day was the rule, as I recall -- the Labor Day weekend being a kind of swan song to summer.
Though I've been out of school for some years now, September *still* seems like the beginning of the year, more so than January 1. Sweet -- that first love of 'supplies' -- fresh boxes of crayons, crisp-edged notebooks, pencils. (And, throughout the year, a little queue each morning in front of the wall-mounted pencil sharpener).
I think I'll go and sharpen a new pencil now.
You’re bringing back my childhood. I will add: a three-hole ruler and a clear vinyl(?) pencil case, necessary for the well-dressed looseleaf notebook.
Post a Comment