Kamloops Junior High School 1932 - 1934

I was ten years old when I was enrolled in Grade Seven at K.J.H.S. in 1932. Lest that seem to be implying that I was some sort of child genius, way ahead of my years, let me explain. First, my birthday is on Dec. 29, so I was at the tail end of my class each year, starting Grade One in September/27, but not reaching the age of six until the following December. So I began my schooling almost a full year younger than some of my classmates (the ones born in January). Second, for some obscure administrative reason which escapes me, an entire grade in Lloyd-George Elementary skipped a year, so that I jumped from Grade Four to Grade Six without touching Grade Five, leaving me to enter Grade Seven at age 10.

I remember that day very well. To begin with I was small for my age, a timid little boy, fearful of authority. Add to that the normal insecurity of finding myself in a class of kids some of whom were a full two years my senior (that would be the ones from Stuart Wood, the only other elementary school feeding K.J.S., who had not skipped a year) and you had all the makings of emotional trauma. The school had seven classes a day, requiring that we move several times, each time to a different teacher. Half the time I didn¹t know where I was supposed to be, or when. I even got lost trying to find my way to the bathroom. The last class finished at 4 pm., and I remember spending each day in a fever of anxiety. Discipline was strict, strappings were frequent and sometimes brutal. In six years at Lloyd-George I was strapped twice; in Grade Seven alone, five times, in Grade Eight eight times. A large man, Mr. Chapin, taught Phys. Ed. and Science, and his idea of a good strapping was eight on each hand, delivered with his full strength. Your hands would be swelling like a balloon when he finished, and it was a tough kid who didn¹t have tears in his eyes. For all that, he was a pretty good teacher. Our Grade Seven Math teacher, Mr. Hoadley, had a visceral dislike of boys, treating us with contempt if we dared to show our ignorance by asking a question. But he liked the girls, especially the pretty ones, and would sit with them to help while the rest of us floundered. Yet, strangely enough, that man did a pretty good job of getting square root and elementary equations into my small and fearful brain, giving me a good start towards the math minor at university which I eventually achieved many years later.

Another teacher I remember well was Granny Lawrence, an elderly lady in her forties who taught the music programme. I also got the strap from her, usually with good reason, since I would join with the other boys in giving her a bad time. One of our more entertaining moments came when, exasperated and in tears over our misbehavior, she screamed out, ³If you boys don¹t behave yourselves I won¹t let you sing the Cuckoo Song!² That broke us up.

Two other teachers who did a good job on the fundamentals were Jock Morse in Social Studies and Des Howard in English. I was able to renew acquaintance with both as a professional equal when I came back to Kamloops to teach at NorKam Secondary in 1956. I remember also the two Stevensons, Art (in Grade 8 English) and Alan (in Lloyd-George), both fine teachers still at it when I came back from the war.

Family circumstances required me to drop out of school after Grade Eight, but after a lapse of years, including the war, I succeeded in getting my high school by correspondence, then on to university. But those two years at K.J.H.S. remain imprinted on my memory. From ranking near the top of my classes in Lloyd George I slipped to near the bottom, but in spite of this I acquired academic skills there which I still draw on to this day.