High School Memories

[gauchecritic]

I think co-education is a bad idea after junior school.

Let the kids keep believing that the opposite sex is boring or nasty or dirty. Might have a few less teenage pregnancies.

Embarrassment is a hard won commodity these days and quite charming.

Gauche

 

[oggbashan]

I went to an all-boys High School in Australia.

Before then I didn't know there were such things as High School.

I had a great time. I was an exotic when Australia didn't have many of them. The other two exotics in my year were a Malaysian Chinese who had spent 12 years in a Karate school, and the son of a Russian diplomat. I was exotic because I was English with an accent and not an immigrant. I was staying for two years and then going back to the UK. I accepted Australia as a place to enjoy and I did.

The High School had a high academic standard but was also very strong on sports - as were most Australian High Schools.

The headmaster had been Captain of the Australian Cricket Team - that is like being a demi-god. Some of the sports staff were former State cricketers. The Masters v Boys Cricket match was always a walkover by the Masters. Bowling out the Headmaster was, in the boys' eyes, an achievement to match an Olympic Gold Medal. Two of the Masters had those.

I wasn't great at sport but I knew Rugby. The school played Australian Rules as it should be played - like war with intermissions. They had won the Schools Championship for ever.

Rugby? What was that? We had difficulty finding 15 people who had heard of Rugby. That included the Karate expert and the Russian. Except for the Karate Kid we were all over six foot but not tall enough for Australian Rules. We were tough. With the same exception we were all over 170 pounds which was heavy for a schoolboy XV. None of those pounds was fat. The training saw to that - four nights a week and Saturday afternoons started with a three mile run.

We were useless at Rugby. Every Monday throughout the winter the Head of Sports would announce the same list of victories. Australian Rules - won; Lacrosse - won; Hockey - won; the list went on until Golf - won. Then his voice would change. Rugby - LOST!!!

On the two occasions that we didn't lose, we were cheered by the whole school. Did we win? No.

Rugby: Game abandoned. Our team's scrum pushed the posts over.

Rugby: Game abandoned. Their team was reduced by injury to five men and decided not to continue. He didn't mention that our team were down to seven and one of them was still playing with a broken wrist. Five ambulances were required to remove the injured.

Our headmaster summoned the whole team to his study. He had the referee's report in front of him. 'XXXX (Our) High's Team played hard but within the rules of Rugby. YYYY's Team played to injure and are disbarred from competition for three months. The match is awarded to XXXX's team'

The Headmaster congratulated us on our restraint.

I could say more about my Australian High School but only one more thing is relevant. While there I discovered girls.

Australian boys/men at that time were weird. At a dance or social event the men would be at the bar; the women by the food. All events were set out that way. The men brought the drink. The women brought the food.

Until the men were well oiled, none of them would cross the invisible line between the bar and the food. I hadn't been brought up that way. As soon as I arrived I went straight for the women and asked for a dance. I could get away with it because I wasn't an Aussie. Once I had done it, other men would follow. It made me popular with the women. I have fond memories of Australian girls.

Og

 

[minsue]

written in 1987

Once
When my heart
was still virgin
to emotional pain
a kiss
was so much more
instead of being a promise
it was a promise fulfilled
so much emotion
so much fire it held
now it is but a shadow
I long for innocence
I long for fire

That's beautiful