This was perhaps my happiest year of school. I seemed to take delight in all my teachers and classes.

Civics
First period was civics with Tommy Miller, who had short, blond hair and blue eyes; his room was the isolated room at the right-rear of the inside of the U across from the men’s faculty lounge. Mr. Miller was in his early twenties, new to teaching, and always wore professional attire that included slacks, collared shirt, and a tie but no suit coat or sports jacket. Occasionally I had to study, such as when given technical material that had to be memorized or practiced, but I retained general information with little effort, which meant I could goof off in class and still maintain good grades, generally speaking; being drunk with delight, I leaned toward goofball comments and conduct almost daily and had nearly no concept that teachers actually had a home life apart from school. There were few high-school teachers who felt academically threatened by a student, probably due to the fact that in 1968 most high-school teachers had bachelor’s and often master’s degrees in the traditional academic subjects being taught. Mr. Miller had us study the U.S. Constitution; we had to memorize the Preamble thereof on which he tested us, and he had us do a mock trial in the class, thereby applying the principles of the legal system we studied. We may have read the occasional newspaper article on an issue related to civics. This was the year the post office started promoting the new, two-letter abbreviations for states, and Mr. Miller said that he could probably guess the abbreviations, which I had copied down from a television news program; and he got nearly all of them correct as I quizzed him at the end of class.

I was undoubtedly one of the most ghastly students ever to enter the school; to this day when teaching I dread seeing any student even remotely similar to me at that age, not that there has ever been a close match. Some of us became drunk with life and had to stagger through the early teen years in a state of perpetual, drunken bliss virtually oblivious to the real world whirling about us. Although after so many years I no longer recall specific details, I do recall that I was basically horrible to have in class; mainly because Mr. Miller ended up moving me first from near his desk to the back of the room by the door, then outside the door with the door open, and finally outside the door with the door closed. And all I did was make a disruptive comment every minute or two such that it was virtually impossible to conduct the class while I was in it. Nonetheless, having been blessed with fairly easy recall, I was able to glide through a good part of high school with minimal effort and a B-average. I enjoyed high school immensely; although some of my teachers may not have found their jobs particularly enjoyable by year’s end. All my freshmen teachers radiated a level of maturity, academic self-confidence, and a sense of honor that inspired me to trust them, and not having encountered this previously in an entire group of teachers, I was practically delirious with delight the whole of my freshman year. Drugs had not yet made the scene in rural schools, and I needed no drugs to remain perpetually high my entire freshman year.

Somehow Mr. Miller survived my presence without going off the deep end, considering this may have been his first year as a teacher. Around Christmas he married Donna Lucas, who was the older sister of one of my classmates, Phyllis, and on Halloween of the next year their first child, Thomas the Third, was born. Mr. Miller gave me a cigar with the condition that I not smoke it at school. I was most curious about this baby, and somewhere during the school year Mr. Miller took me home to see him, and then took me the several miles on to my grandparents’ farm; he had been reared a few miles above my grandparents’ farm and knew the area well. Despite my having been a terror in class, we both survived the year unscathed; perhaps he was too young to know how really terrible I was. This baby visit is a particularly fond memory; although, that same tiny baby now makes me feel hundreds of years old since it was alleged that he is already approaching forty years old, and it seems like it was about ten minutes ago that he was a tiny infant. (A time distortion occurs when recalling this event, obviously.) I felt rather loved by my teachers; they all seemed quite decent to me, and having dealt with the opposite extreme in people, I had no confusion on this point.

Reading
Second period was reading with Joyce Martin, a cheerful, petite, attractive lady with brown hair and perhaps brown eyes, although sometimes I think she had blue eyes like everyone in my family; she was in her late twenties or early thirties and had a well-developed sense of humor. Mrs. Martin always dressed in a professional manner of skirt and blouse or the occasional dress. Although we had to focus on reading various items, there were only about ten of us in the class, and, therefore, there was more time for humor and enjoying the irrelevant comments of students. In Mrs. Martin’s class we used reading materials containing the letters, SRL, or some such combination, and these materials were basically large, page-size cards with a short story in rather small print on front and back. We seemed to read something different every day, but the only story title that has remained in memory was one called, Honey on the Border, and I have no clue as to what the story depicted; it probably dealt with thieves along the U.S.-Mexican border. There was also a small reading-related magazine that was occasionally used in the class, which I recall only because it described in detail a John-Wayne movie, True Grit. With there being no indoor theaters short of a thirty-mile trip, although there was a drive-in theater a half-mile below the high school, we rarely saw movies except on television and thus had to wait a few years after reading about movies to see them. At any rate, from having read of the movie in the reading class, I recognized it when it finally made it to television. By the modern, black-collar expert standards it was odd that the school had a special reading class for those of us who had no particular difficulty reading; black-collar experts seem to hold that only those students who refuse or are unable to learn are entitled to a special class like Mrs. Martin’s class; although the rest of her classes were for average or below-average students.

Algebra I
Third period was Algebra I with Wilburn Triplett, Jr., who was a tall, lanky fellow about forty years old with blackish hair and brown eyes; he had graduated from the high school and had lived mainly across the highway near the high school with his mother until he married, perhaps my sophomore year; he was able to teach a half-dozen subjects or more and had a master’s degree in math. Mr. Triplett always dressed in a casual, professional manner that included a cardigan sweater, virtually always open, and containing his initials monogrammed on the upper left side. His married sister also taught at the same school on the opposite side of the building. Anyone who had both of them as teachers might never know that they were brother and sister. Although they looked somewhat similar, they had very different teaching styles. Mr. Triplett consistently remained focused on the goal of teaching the subject at hand and did not endorse irrelevant discussions in class.

We began Algebra I by learning the basic laws of algebra, proceeded to factoring, went on to something called completing the square, and by year’s end had learned enough to derive the quadratic formula; that is, take the algebraic equation of aX2 + bX + c = 0 and solve for X, which equals negative b plus-or-minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac, all over 2a. To those weak on algebra it appears impossible to arrive at the given solution to the problem, but it can be done nonetheless. Although some of the steps taught earlier in the year are not necessarily used with frequency, they were all necessary in order to derive the quadratic formula at year’s end.
I once asked Mr. Triplett the reason he chose to teach basic math classes since he held a master’s degree in math and, therefore, was vastly more qualified than most people to teach upper-level math. Mr. Triplett explained that he had originally wanted to teach the upper-level classes but had discovered that it could not be done unless the students had been taught the lower-level classes adequately, that he had discovered that he might as well ensure students were taught the first-year of algebra adequately, which would enable whoever taught the second year to teach at that level if they chose to do so; and if the upper-level teacher did not choose to teach math adequately, it would not affect him.

Physical Education
Fourth period was physical education with Blaine Wilkerson, a tall, brawny fellow in his early thirties with sandy-blond, crew cut hair and blue eyes. At least I think his eyes were blue since an aide, Nello Thompson, handled most of the details of the phys ed class. Mr. Wilkerson dressed in a casual, professional manner that included shirt with collar and slacks, not blue jeans and T-shirt. Not unlike Mr. Bernassie of sixth grade, Mr. Wilkerson simply did not teach regularly even though he seemed fully able to do so. I suppose he must have been a wonderful coach for football players and the like after school, which does not negate the point that in general he, like most physical education teachers I had, would usually made an appearance at the beginning of class, but mainly stayed in his office most of the time my freshman year.

The Field House at the north end of the football field was a sizeable, mainly square building with doors near each of the four corners; about ten feet above the floor on the east and the west sides were windows perhaps seven feet high running along the top area of the two walls. Inside the main facility were six basketball backboards around the edges; the four on the two sides with the windows could be raised into the metal girders that supported the high-dome ceiling. There were also expandable bleachers against the west wall, and behind the west wall at opposite corners were entrances to the locker rooms with shower facilities. Regular students used the locker room on the southwest corner; the athletes used the one on the northwest corner where there were also offices for the phys-ed teachers. All students were required to dress for phys ed; that is, purchase loose gym shorts that were generally either dark blue with a gold emblem or plain white, participate in the activities, and shower afterwards. This group showering was generally a new event for freshmen, but because all the older students already disciplined in the activity showered automatically without much thought, we adjusted to this hygiene requirement quickly.
The phys ed class, like every class, would begin with roll call, which was more time consuming because there were generally 50-60 students in each class. Following the taking of attendance would be about ten minutes of calisthenics that would normally include push-ups, leg-lifts, sit-ups, jumping jacks, toe-touches, squat-thrusts, and then running laps around the gym. After this daily routine we would normally do something related to basketball or volleyball for thirty minutes and then hit the showers and dress for the next class.

English 9
Fifth period was English with Melonie Mabe, a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady in her mid-to-late twenties who also seemed to have a wonderful sense of humor. Mrs. Mabe always dressed in a professional manner with skirt and blouse or a dress. Mrs. Mabe’s room was by the typing room and had black tables like those in a science room since it was designed for science replete with a sink for lab exercises and wooden chairs for the tables. The wooden chairs were notable because one of the young ladies, Maxine, had the unfortunate tendency to tip her chair back onto two legs, and one day the well-built, wooden chair simply shot apart into all its pieces, leaving Maxine sitting in air, soon followed by sitting on the floor in the debris that had been the solid, wooden chair. It happened that I was sitting near Mrs. Mabe’s desk; startled, Mrs. Mabe quietly questioned, “Is she alright?” and then on seeing that the student was okay pronounced loudly enough for the entire class to hear, “You broke my chair!” and then asked again, “Are you alright?” Mrs. Mabe taught English grammar, as did all my English teachers. We reviewed the eight parts of speech, which is necessary knowledge in order to be able to communicate about points of grammar. We also studied subject-verb agreement, direct and indirect objects, prepositions, the different spellings and meanings of homonyms, and probably the whole of grammar since we used a grammar workbook, pages of which were filled with many sentences to challenge the student’s knowledge and thereby develop grammar skills.

The school used the six-week grading cycle, apparently with awareness that the more frequent grading cycle kept both students and parents aware of student progress throughout the year, as opposes the modern teacher-convenience first with a forty-five day grading cycle. We alternated with six weeks of grammar and six weeks of literature in English classes. The main story we read was Young David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Mrs. Mabe also received small sales magazines from book publishers that offered paperback books at an inexpensive price. I ordered one called, Two-Minute Mysteries; and another, Wuthering Heights, on the recommendation of Mr. Miller, who said he liked the book. I was somewhat irritated that it took me longer than two minutes to read any of the two-minute mysteries in the one book. Mrs. Mabe was also the German teacher at the high school.

General Science
Sixth period and last class of the day was general science with Lottie Midkiff, who was a petite, attractive, youthful, gray-haired lady with brown eyes and who said she was forty-one, but who appeared to be early thirties. Mrs. Midkiff was extremely knowledgeable of science, had a Master of Science degree in science, and dressed in a professional manner with skirt and blouse; she seemed to avoid long, loose sleeves due to the subject she taught. Mrs. Midkiff was quite stern from day one in the science class, stating policies to be followed for conduct and earning grades in her class; we were to be in our seats ready to learn before the tardy bell sounded or else lose points from a daily grade. I decided straightaway that I would not like Mrs. Midkiff; but somehow I have loved her as a friend since the first week or so in her class; she was a highly intelligent woman who believed in discipline but who also had a sense of humor.

Considering that I was very nearly a walking terror for any teacher whose classroom I entered during ninth grade, Mrs. Midkiff was all the more talented in being able to deal with me under the most trying of circumstance. While teaching chemistry and physical science at the high-school level, I came to understand the need for absolute strictness with students in a science room; and I remain all the more amazed at the patience Mrs. Midkiff had displayed when dealing with me. There was the time I completely derailed the class by asking one question after another; the following day Mrs. Midkiff informed that if this ever happened again, one of us would have to leave; it being understood that with her being the teacher and all, she would not be the one leaving.

In this general science class we spent about six weeks each on physics, chemistry, geology, biology, meteorology with astronomy, and agriculture. We had to learn the human skeleton, one of which she had in the science room, and we also had to test soils and substances for growth properties by planting various seeds. The six weeks on each topic is an approximation, but this was the grading cycle used. Actually, the subjects overlapped quite a bit; after covering the major points of astronomy, for example, we then had to attempt to locate various constellations at home while the class moved on to other things. And after covering the major bones of the skeleton, we had to research and learn the other bones on our own for more points as the class moved on to other topics. We learned to use microscopes, Bunsen burners, a bit about the Periodic Table, and other types of lab equipment; we learned about the simple tools from which all mechanical devices have their origin, and we occasionally had to do calculations such as going from Fahrenheit to Celsius degrees when stating temperatures.

I had the highest score of 186 on the skeleton test (one other student had the same score) in the ninth-grade class, and I regularly ate lunch in the science room and watched other students take the skeleton test, which had to be taken outside class time. One day when Mrs. Midkiff was particularly busy with multi-tasking activities, she had me give the test to a student apparently not predisposed to studying since he scored only around 60 or 70. We had to know both the name and the location of the bone being identified, and I was far more stressed at giving the test than when I took it because I was very uncertain of my abilities. My self-esteem was thoroughly uplifted from having an adult show confidence in my abilities, but I had no desire to repeat the experience.

General science provided an overview of the more specific sciences and, therefore, gave students a feel for the areas of science that might interest them. Mrs. Midkiff reminded us to save our milk cartons when we were getting ready to do the experiments on soils, and after we had selected a soil type, we also had to furnish the type of garden-variety seeds we would plant. Occasionally Mrs. Midkiff would tell us to watch and write a summary of specific television programs, necessarily cited days and sometimes weeks in advance. In general we did the same thing we did in all our classes; we went to class and did whatever the teacher said to do that day because the challenges and requirements of the day, or at most the next day, were entirely sufficient to keep us content.

I developed a fondness for my ninth-grade teachers that did not occur with grade-school teachers. Lottie Midkiff became the focus of my fixation, and I would call her for one reason or another just about ever week during the summer. I liked Tommy Miller, too, but I never called him during the summer. To this day I still remember Mrs. Midkiff’s phone number, which has never changed, and occasionally while mindlessly dialing the same exchange, if the number is a bit unclear, Lottie’s number will surface and come out my fingers before I realize it does not go with the person being called. Nonetheless, Mrs. Midkiff was always gracious in dealing with me as a teenage terror, and I shall always appreciate her exemplary kindness and maturity.