Surprise, surprise! It’s me, pinch hitting for Lauren this week so she could attend a few appointments today. She will be back next Thursday tackling the first of our abbreviated prompts for the month of April.
If you care to join us, it’s easy.
- Write your own post sharing your memories and leave a pingback to this post in the comments.
- You can use the photo above in your post to make it easier to find.
- Tag it with #TBTMemory or #IRememberWhen.
- If you do not wish to write your own post, feel free to tell your story in the comments below.
This week’s prompt is: Report cards and Progress Reports.
You can use the questions that follow to spark your memories or you can answer them as they stand. It is totally up to you.
- Looking back now, would you say you were a good, fair, or struggling student?
- How often were your school efforts reported to your parents?
- Did you receive letter grades, i.e. A, B, C, etc?
- Was your behavior reported on your progress reports or report cards?
- In what subjects did you excel and which subjects were a challenge?
- Did you ever try to change your grade? Turning a C into a B for example?
- Did you keep any of your report cards?
- Did you get rewarded for good grades? Punished for ‘bad’ grades?
- Did the subjects you excelled in prove to be where you excelled in life?
- What was your biggest detraction from your school work?
My post follows:
Looking back, I would say I was a good student overall. I was a rule follower (and still am) so it made school much easier. That is not to say I did not get into trouble once in a while, though.
The subjects I excelled in were related to language arts, music, and visual arts. I did okay in math, science, and history but they were not my favorite classes. As an adult, I love history, but my teachers could make history as palatable as dry burnt toast. I did not get bad grades, I just did not enjoy those classes as much.
I never tried to change grades on my report cards. I would never have considered such a thing. I was on the honor roll until my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and honestly, I could have cared less about school or grades at the time. The only “bad” grade I received was in Algebra – that deserves an entire post to tell that story!
I always found being graded or rated or evaluated on anything stressful. I think because I always tend to set high expectations for myself and it stresses me out!
I do not recall being punished or rewarded for grades received. There was always an unspoken expectation to do our best – no excuses. My only real distraction from school was my mother’s diagnosis.
I ended up in a career where math was very important. I could at one time read hexadecimal and binary. I am an excellent troubleshooter and problem solving is one of my strong suits. I aced all my algebra classes after high school – go figure.
Still, I do think my love of words and art and music are all still my most enduring interests as an adult. I love history now that I can find interesting resources outside of the dry, sanitized versions presented in school.
I did not keep any of my grade school or high school report or grade cards. I do have a few from my college classes. And of course, I kept my children’s grade cards. I think they enjoy looking back at them as adults.
The most succinct comment I ever had on a report was for Geography. It said “Only Fair.” I think she meant that it was only fair that she wrote something even though I was useless, disinterested, and probably bottom of the class in that subject!
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That’s a non committal observation. I might be able to answer geography questions as the world was when I was in school, but the new geographic names and landscapes? Not a chance.
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Here are my answers, Maggie.
1) I was a good student overall.
2) I think I had reports to take home twice a year from the age of 11.
3) Yes, each subject was graded by the teacher concerned, and our designated Form Teacher gave a class grade too.
4) Yes. Terms like “Needs to concentrate more”. “Has ability but fails to fully use it”.
5) I was very good at English, French, and History. Bad at Maths and Sciences.
6) Never.
7) My mum kept some. I found them when she died and have them somewhere.
8) No, neither.
9) I made good use of speaking French, but the subjects were not relevant to the work I did.
10) Boredom, and looking at girls in the class.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I am curious, Pete. When did you start reading and develop your writing skills? Did any of that surface while you were in school?
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Yes, I was reading from an early age, and writing stories when I was 7. I won prizes for fictional essays at junior school when I was 7,8,9, and 10. The prizes were firction hardback books with certificates pasted inside, and I still have them. I received ‘With Wolfe In Canada’, ‘Destry Rides Again’, ‘The Iliad’, and ‘The Odessey’. They are all in a box in the garage. 🙂
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Congratulations to young Master Pete! I thought perhaps that might be the case.
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Thanks for joining in Pete.
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You pretty much said the same thing as I would have said, Maggie.
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School was so much different 60 years ago, Don.
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I left a comment on your post, Willow. Thanks for joining in.
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Thanks for such an interesting topic for this week’s Throwback Thursday. I am glad you were never punished or rewarded for your grades.
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It is interesting to look back, Astrid. I am glad I was neither punished or rewarded, too. I know so many who were and it makes school even more difficult!
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You were really affected by your mum’s illness, and that is completely understandable. I hope your school helped you get through.💜💜
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No, they were not much help, sadly. It was a difficult time.
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I really feel for you , that is when you really need support 💜💜
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I do not dwell on it now. It was just the blink of an eye.
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Yes your right we have grown and survived 😊
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Thankfully. ❤️
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Here’s mine
https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/throwback-thursday-32-report-cards-and-progress-reports/
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I left a comment on your post, Di.
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thanks Maggie
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❤️
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I left a comment on your post, Astrid.
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I left a comment on your post.
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I liked reading your report card and school days memories! Thanks for the interesting questions! 🙂
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It seemed such a big part of our lives then to be so insignificant now.
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I left a comment on your post, John.
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I had severe test anxiety as a kid. Actually, I still do. Thank you so much for stepping up today. I am not surprised one bit about your excelling in LA and the arts. I am in awe of your many talents my friend.
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I was happy to help out. Test anxiety is a real thing! I hope more teachers understand that.
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It is
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I left a comment on your post, Lauren.
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I left a comment on your post, Diana.
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Here’s my rather wordy contribution, a day late: https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.wordpress.com/2022/04/01/throw-back-thursday-blog-hop-written-on-friday-4-1-2022/
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I left a comment on your post, Melanie.
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Here’s mine.
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I left a comment on your post, Fandango.
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Got it. Thanks.
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I left a comment on your post.
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I think I misinterpreted the question about changing grades. I took it as meaning trying to improve. I guess because I would never even have considered altering the grades by forgery it just didn’t occur to me. Here is mine.
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