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Show j ffjplal' Marcella Walker free Education in't That Cheap cnmeone said America offers education they must have :5child in school, especially lr high or high school, is worse ;JJ I nto the grocery store for Ztheoldpocketbook. I 'ft nlv the clothes they had last ftr f still fit. One new shirt and rf nants should send them off ;spiffythe first day andwh0 Rafter that- . f f easy to convince a kin-"leneror kin-"leneror first grader that they "l need much except one outfit, a Lboxandlunch money. is definitely not easy to convince 4 teenagers and I would say it is 4on to impossible ; 1 seem to think they need a new i ytor at least two weeks of school L wearing something for the dtime. Especially girls. Every mother knows the price of ! w now-a-days from Jordache to " stripped down models. member when jeans were Levi's Llhatwas about it? Girls also think they need earrings, pairs of shoes, a variety of bags 1 ndfancy unders. So you buy for one child and there Sid money left for the other seven. je only answer is to take out a loan I1 1 become the meanest mother in 1 j jjext comes registration day. At ' elementary school this only means Sling out a few forms and paying a illar or two activity fee. In the secondary schools it is "enter lepoorhouse day." There are acuity ac-uity fees, towel fees, gym fees, lab iees, yearbooks, book deposits, etc. $iw this wouldn't be so bad if there si only one child but with more than ii and with the money already used I on school clothes, the whole thing taisimpossible. , let, somehow it manages to all it . . work out each year. But it would be better for us if school started in September because, in addition to school, we have three children's birthdays, a brother and a parent's birthday too, in August. In spite of my griping about the expense, there is a special feeling on the first day of school as the children leave looking neat and clean in their fine new clothes, swinging their new book bag and yelling "Hi" to all the school mates. From the little first grader who is eager but frightened to leave mother, to the eleventh grader who has his eye out for all the new girls that might have moved in during the summer, the beginning of school is a new adventure. ad-venture. Although I wouldn't go back, it is fun to look back on the beginning of school when we were young. No matter how fun summer is and no matter how badly we hate to admit it, the time comes when we actually look forward to the new year and seeing the old friends again. At Ogden High School in the '50's the first day of school meant a big waterfight between the juniors and seniors with water hoses provided by the city fire department. Teams were formed for tug-o-war in the center of the field, juniors on one end and seniors on the other. In those days before women's lib, girls cheered from the sidelines while the boys did the work. The winning team would eventually grab the hoses and squirt the stands, soaking everyone in range. How we loved it ! New students got a beanie to wear made of school colors. Everyone got a name tag to wear. In those days, to be "in," it was a must to wear Jantzen sweaters, White Stag pedal pushers and Joyce shoes. Oh yeah, now what was it I was saying about the cost of today's jeans? |