Good Morning, Oppo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/26/2019 at 08:30 • Filed to: None

2

53

Don’t do drugs , kids.

I found this high school report card   in an old paperback. It’s from the last grading period of my sophomore year. Not my finest work, and possibly the nadir of my high school career (though I know I failed at least one other literature class at some point ) . Looks like I might have skipped a little bit more school than I remembered. What I do remember, though, is smoking a lot of pot in those days. Perhaps there is a correlation. At least I got an A in band.

In the British novel course, we read (or were supposed to read) Great Expectations . If you want to turn kids off British lit, have them read Great Expectations . If you want kids interested, read A Tale of Two Cities . French I enjoyed, obviously. I don’t remember much about an entire course on the French Revolution, but I do remember that Mr. Collins was a very strange man, prone to corny jokes (“ If you’re an American in the living room, what are you in the bathroom? European!” . That’s a C in on-level algebra, and an E in advanced (not even AP)  biology. I was was never much of a math and science guy, clearly . And a B in gym? How does that even happen?

facw > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 08:38

1

In my high school, they way to not get an A in gym was to not show up, or not change. Grading was entirely based on being there and being dressed for gym.

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 08:47

1

This is kinda what my final HS report card looked like. It was not drug related.  A fter I got accepted into college I came down with a bad case of senioritis.

vondon302 > facw 04/26/2019 at 08:47

1

I actually failed gym in high school. It was right after lunch and we had a open campus. Who goes to gym high? I just never showed up. Still somehow finished early.

jimz > vondon302 04/26/2019 at 08:52

3

I’ve never understood why teenage potheads always act like it’s something to be proud of. 

facw > vondon302 04/26/2019 at 08:52

0

We had gym every other day in high school. The other days were reserved for science lab sessions. I think if you wanted to promote fitness, rather than doing mandatory gym, it might have worked better to require everyone to join some sort of team/athletic club each semester (including offering a less competitive level for people who’d never have the athleticism/interest for a varsity-level team). It seems like for the vast majority of students, you should have been able to find something that sparked their interest.

The Ghost of Oppo > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 08:53

0

If it wasn’t for the teacher’s name, how tf are you supposed to know what class is what ?

Chuckles > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:01

0

An "E" means failing? What's the matter with F? 

facw > Chuckles 04/26/2019 at 09:05

2

F hurts our feelings.

facw > The Ghost of Oppo 04/26/2019 at 09:07

1

To me it looks like:

British Literature

French

History of the French Revolution (Seems like an awfully specific history course for high school)

Algebra

Biology

PE

Concert Band

I have no idea why they have all that other crap in the course names though.

Chuckles > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:09

0

We had F's on our report cards. And this isn't meant to be some "back in my day" claim. I graduated high school in 2004.

facw > Chuckles 04/26/2019 at 09:11

1

I know the district where I did  middle school/elementary school did E’s. My high school did F’s. I didn’t feel like it made a big difference either way, anything lower than a C- was definitely unacceptably bad.

Svend > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:14

0

Bloody hell, that’s some crazy report card there.

Ours were in columns for the teacher to hand write in. 

In English literature we did Shakespeare’s Macbeth covering all the formats from reading the book, watching a theatre performance at ‘the theatre by the lake’ in Cumbria, film adaptations, old TV and modern day adaptations, etc... I think we watched it about eight times in different forms looking at how we took the work and how others showed the work.

We also covered John Steinbeck’s, of mice and men looking at literature in America during the time of the g reat recession. We read it and watched it in different forms and also studied what lead up to the recession, during and how it later altered America.

Of course we also did the first world war poets Seigf ried Sass oon and Wilfred Owen.

Seigfried Sassoon, Suicide in the Trenches.

I knew a simple soldier boy

Who grinned at life in empty joy,

Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,

And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,

With crumps and lice and lack of rum,

He put a bullet through his brain.

No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye

Who cheer when soldier lads march by,

Sneak home and pray you’ll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Soldiers are citizens of death’s grey land, drawing no dividend from time’s tomorrows.

Wilfred Owen, Dulce et decorum est.

Chuckles > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:14

2

I agree. If you failed a class, it doesn't really matter what letter they assign you. Call it whatever you want, you're still going to summer school.

benn454 > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:15

1

My middle school used Es, then it went back to Fs in junior high. All it did was confuse me.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > vondon302 04/26/2019 at 09:15

1

In my senior year I worked in the attendance office as my one class after lunch. I could have started earlier in the day and been off by lunch, but then, like now, I am not a morning person.

My reasons for this class were manifold. The biggest one were that I could increase  my GPA and get the good student discount on my insurance and I could destroy the records in my file from the previous year where I ditched frequently and forged excuse notes...

JeepJeremy > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:16

0

Dude.....Great Expectations FUCKIN SUCKS!!!!

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:17

1

I got my truck in grade 12 and that was pretty much the worst thing to happen.

Mobility made me.a monster

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:18

2

Re: Grades

Re: Dickens - anybody who without any shame at all was recognized for getting paid by the word is going to risk being a slog for highschoolers. One should at least choose the work carefully.

facw > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:20

0

Also, as an aside, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure one of my friends from college went to M aury, it sounds very familiar, and I have two friends from the area. They were born in ‘82 though.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:20

7

If you want kids interested, read A Tale of Two Cities .

At 14, I begged to differ.
At 21, I totally enjoyed it.

Or to put this in Dickensian prose:

When began my early teen years, in the era of loafing and such that is so oft endemic to that phase in one’s life, the proposition of reading sentences with such archaic structure became, in a word, quite disenchanting; it would be several years hence that my sensibilities would finally be reconciled to the notion that subtly ingenious wordplay ought appeal to my mind substantively enough that I found myself properly engaged in the enjoyment of such material.

ttyymmnn > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:28

1

For me, they alternated weeks of gym with a week of “health” class. These classes were taught by the football coaches, and for four days you would sit at your desk and copy mimeographed notes into your notebook. On the fifth day, you took an open notebook test. Obviously, there were “show up, shut up, and pass” classes. To get a B, I probably never dressed out.

vondon302 > jimz 04/26/2019 at 09:29

0

Youth and stupidity. 

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 04/26/2019 at 09:29

2

These grades kept me out of my chosen major. I ended up going to the local uni for two years (still smoking pot, getting average grades) before I transferred to a big school as a music major. I got in on talent, not grades. I caught a buzz before my first band rehearsal there, then I realized that I was the only person in the room who was stoned. I never did it again. 

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:31

6

Ask your doctor about Britnovel, Frenrevol, and the new ConcBand. Side effects include dizziness, vomiting, blurred vision, sexual side effects, dry mouth. Only your doctor can determine if these are right for you.

#drugs

vondon302 > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:32

0

It was just alot more fun to hang out at Macdonalds , do burnouts, race cars and chase girls rather than go to gym.

High school in the 80s was alot of fun.

ttyymmnn > The Ghost of Oppo 04/26/2019 at 09:34

0

Back then, we had four nine-week grading periods called Phases. So FZ is short for “phase.” Classes like algebra and biology were taught over either 4 or 8 phases. So 4-phase biology was accelerated, while 8-phase algebra was not. Or, probably more accurately, 4-phase was on-level, and 8-phase was bonehead. HSPED is some conglomeration of health class  and PE.

ttyymmnn > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:35

1

Back then, we had four nine-week grading periods called Phases. So FZ is short for “phase.” Classes like algebra and biology were taught over either 4 or 8 phases. So 4-phase biology was accelerated, while 8-phase algebra was not. Or, probably more accurately, 4-phase was on-level, and 8-phase was bonehead. I failed on-level biology, and barely passed bonehead algebra.

ttyymmnn > Chuckles 04/26/2019 at 09:36

1

Somehow, I avoided summer school. I don’t remember how. I guess I had openings in my schedule to make up classes. It’s a bit hazy...

ttyymmnn > Chuckles 04/26/2019 at 09:36

1

Just following the alphabet. Not sure why we started skipping E to make F failing, unless there is some symbolic meaning of F=Fail. 

ttyymmnn > Svend 04/26/2019 at 09:40

1

Though I despised Great Expectations , there were other books that I read in high school that I devoured, like Slaughterhouse 5 . I just didn’t write the essays and failed the exams. I discovered many of the British war poets in college, as well as American Randall Jarrell. As an aviation nut, I was particularly taken with The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner .

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:41

1

pfffft, I didn’t need drugs to get grades like that ...

facw > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:42

1

We had a one semester health class (usually taken sophomore year, after art/music became optional ). It was an easy class, but taught by specialist health teachers.

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:43

0

G la d you could get out of that habit.

Svend > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:54

1

I can’t say I’ve ever even picked up Great Expectations, never mind read it.

I think what got me more on the first world war more than the second is they believed it would be a short war and then home, but actually turned into a massive turning point for how wars are fought and lost,  physically, mentally and technologically.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 09:56

0

What I wouldn’t do for a little weed these days - it might get rid of the nausea and bring back my appetite. But working for a public transit agency, even if I’m on the phone and radio instead of driving, I can’t take the risk, even if it was only used on my of f time.

You’d think by now they could come up with a test to determine whether someone is currently under the influence as opposed to just having used in the last six months. It seems so hypocritical that I could go home and drink every night and not be at risk, yet if I had one joint six months ago I could be fired...

ttyymmnn > JeepJeremy 04/26/2019 at 09:56

0

Indeed. I read A Tale of Two Cities later in life and absolutely loved it. There is approachable Dickens out there. GE is not in that category. I read A Christmas Carol every December.

ttyymmnn > facw 04/26/2019 at 09:58

1

I graduated in 84. The school still had no central air and radiator heat. I think the cornerstone was laid in 19-oh -something. They have since spent millions to remodel it.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 04/26/2019 at 10:00

1

Dat Concband was da shit. 

ttyymmnn > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 04/26/2019 at 10:01

0

I had a friend who smoked and partied as much as the rest of us and still got straight As. Last I heard was working for some Washington DC think tank or something. Smart guy.

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 04/26/2019 at 10:02

1

Yeah, me too. Credit my wife with a lot of that. I look back on those years and think that I cou ld have done better, but I also had some really good times that I’d rather not have to trade. It all worked out in the end, but it might have worked out sooner otherwise. 

ttyymmnn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/26/2019 at 10:06

2

It seems so hypocritical that I could go home and drink every night and not be at risk, yet if I had one joint six months ago I could be fired...

It is hypocritical. You could go home, get absolutely hammered, then be hung over as hell and unproductive at work the next day. Conversely, you could go home and get massively blizzed, go to bed, then wake up just fine in the morning. The trouble is, you’d probably want to smoke a bowl on the way to work.

ttyymmnn > jimz 04/26/2019 at 10:09

0

It’s cool to be a rebel. Cf: The Breakfast Club.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Ash78, voting early and often 04/26/2019 at 10:12

1

This is the greatest thing I’ve read so far today.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 10:14

1

When I worked for a talent agency in Beverly Hills I never had to worry about drug testing, for obvious reasons. And I did smoke on weekends, without fear . I never seemed to have the craving during the week or during working hours. Maybe it was just being adult about it and not giving in to cravings that might be the case with adolescents, I don’t know, but the idea of c raving more and more after getting high seemed like a foreign concept to me.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 10:28

1

Counterpoint: the time I accidentally took an intermediate accounting exam while stoned (the two are not unrelated...) , and some how managed a mid-B on the exam after getting a low C on the first exam taken stone cold sober.

I didn’t stop smoking pot (couldn’t possibly have entertained that possibility at that stage in life ), but that was the point in my college career where I finally started studying (a bit) . Oddly, my grades improved . Weird.

CalzoneGolem > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/26/2019 at 10:48

0

Let’s not forget the myriad of illicit substances you could consume and have out of your system in a day.

ttyymmnn > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 04/26/2019 at 11:22

1

but that was the point in my college career where I finally started studying (a bit). Oddly, my grades improved. Weird.

Correlation doesn’t always imply causation, but in this case, I’d say the evidence is pretty strong.

ttyymmnn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/26/2019 at 11:24

0

Back in those days, any time I left the house was an excuse to get high. Which is not to say that I didn’t get high all the time at home, too. But I know adults nowadays who use any and every event as an opportunity to drink. Look, I like beer as much as the rest of them, but diddling off to the parking lot for a drink while you’re working at the school carnival probably isn’t the best. Grown ups should know that.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 13:08

0

They gave Es instead of Fs in order not to damage our self esteem. I remember most of those names. Collins was scrawny and old.

8FZ Algebra was 8-phase Algebra, or Algebra I spread out over two years. I failed that. Naturally, having failed 8-phase Algebra, they placed me in 4-phase Algebra: kid fails math class so they put him in a harder math class.

Uch. This is triggering me... All this trauma and I became a secondary educator. And I’d like to think I’m about seven crap-tons better than any of the math teachers I encountered, and the majority of any of the other teachers I encountered, in high school.

Utley was a far better than the scumbag John Vann who taught chorus, and who was later sacked for “fraternizing” with (a) student(s).

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn 04/26/2019 at 13:09

0

What kind of blur filter did you use on that?

ttyymmnn > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 04/26/2019 at 13:40

1

I think it was Distort > Wave

fhrblig > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 04/26/2019 at 15:11

1

Same here. I got my car halfway through my junior year, and guess when my grades took a nosedive?

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > fhrblig 04/26/2019 at 15:17

0

I went to a remote country school.  Access to a vehicle made you somewhat popular/powerful.  You could escape!  You could help others escape!