School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
Parent life · Virginia, Texas and California
In 2019 an Arlington crossing guard held up a joke request at his post for a week. Sixty families took it literally.
The admissions files · American country schools
In the nineteenth century, rural teachers often "boarded round," living a week at a time with their pupils' families. The memoirs remember cold rooms, hot arguments and jealous children.
The admissions files · Early kindergarten classrooms
Froebel's original kindergarten activities included building frames with pointed sticks and soaked dried peas. An 1898 guide gives the schedule: twelve hours of soaking. We tried it on a weekend.
The admissions files · New York City
Fannie Griscom Parsons started a children's farm on Manhattan's West Side, four feet by eight per child. The rules were printed in the Parks Department's annual report, and the first rule was about the tag.
School life · Missouri, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
In February 2024 a Massachusetts class handed out superlatives in a packed auditorium. Most Likely to Succeed was on the list. So was Best Sneeze.
Parent life · Massachusetts, Illinois and North Carolina
At one North Carolina high school, an assistant principal waited at lunch with a clipboard for a week. Over 500 lockers, about 670 students, 7 or 8 takers.
School life · Illinois, Virginia and Massachusetts
A ramen-for-a-T-shirt exchange in Illinois, a snack cart with 30 investors in Virginia, and a locker candy empire in Cambridge that the dean shut down.
The admissions files · Louisville and Washington, D.C.
In 1925 an eleven-year-old from Louisville won the first national spelling bee, a bag of gold coins and a bicycle. Eighty-three years later he ranked the prizes.
The admissions files · Providence and New York City
The open-air school movement put children outdoors, or nearly, for their health. The equipment list included a sack to sit in and a hot stone.
The admissions files · Northern Ontario
From 1926 to 1967, northern Ontario ran schools on railcars. The teacher's family lived in the back, and the homework stayed behind for a month.
Parent life · Between band practice and home
The middle one joined the band and chose the instrument with the longest case. Bus rules depend on which district you live in.
Parent life · At the school bus
Chaperone places on school field trips are fought over by parents. Two mothers wrote about getting the place, or nearly getting it, and then being turned down by the only person who mattered.
