THE NEW KID

 

Once again the kiddies are back in class and my mailbox is safe until the weekend or at least the next school holiday.

A number of young adult novels and after school TV specials feature stories of children as strangers in a new school with all the troubles they encounter fitting in. -- I had the exact opposite experiences!

I was that kid who always felt different and was self-conscious about it. I was born with a variety of undiagnosed mental disorders. To me numbers had personalities, colors, & smells. Words had flavors especially names and I could see all kinds of bizarre images in patterns. And I still struggle with math and directions due to dyscalculia.

I was cautioned never to talk about these things because they made me sound stupid/crazy/ weird. If fact EVERYTHING I said made me sound that way according to my mother. She was always telling me, "Why can't you act normal?"

But I didn't know how normal people act except from what I saw on TV. And my family was nothing like any of those people! Also I was always told, "There's something wrong with you!"

I had no control over it and this was frustrating. I never opened my mouth around other people unless absolutely necessary for fear of saying the wrong thing.

School was mostly a nightmare except for those two times when I was the new kid. The last half of my first grade year we moved to Hobe Sound. 

I stepped into a classroom full of strangers who all knew each other and I was scared. However unlike my previous first grade class everyone was friendly and welcoming. I was shocked and could not believe my good fortune. 

Unfortunately the following year we moved back up the coast to the previous town and all those unfriendly kids with attitude.

Something foul must have been in the water there that affected their brains; by sixth grade it was hell on earth! What few friends I had all were in different classes. The kids in mine were in tight condescending clicks and were unbelievably mean! And so was the teacher who was always singling me out for criticism and ridicule.

I was constantly faking illnesses to avoid school, my grades were plummeting. And that old pill of a teacher seemed to have her heart set on failing me.

My parents hired a private tutor for the summer so that I could pass to the seventh grade. 

The next year I was sent to a "Special School" in West Palm Beach where the students already knew each other. Again I was immediately welcomed and accepted! There, everybody socialized with everybody else, no one was deemed unworthy!

However the following year required going back to my hometown school. Just the thought of returning sickened me. I was filled with dread.

My mother kept insisting that I would love high school. She assured me the kids would be different and nicer now and the clicks gone. -- She was wrong, they were worse than ever! And now there was even a caste system. If you forgot where you belonged there were plenty of people eager to remind you.

That was also the year my father lost his high paying job at age 50 when the corporation he worked for went belly up! This added fuel to the fire and more ammunition against me. 

They claim teachers have eyes in the back of their head. -- Based on my experiences I could swear those back eyes had myopia and the ones in the front wore blinders!

I hated attending school far more than going to work. At least I got paid for my misery. I would never have worked 3 days at a job under those same conditions. And if I did, I'd have sued the company for harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

Graduating high school and knowing that I never had to return was a liberating and wildly joyful feeling, not to mention a tremendous relief!