In the beginning, there was Mrs. D, quite possibly the largest kindergarten teacher ever. My strongest memory of this class actually belongs to someone else (thanks, Linda) who, for some un-named misbehavior, had to sit under Mrs. D's desk, while it was occupied by the owner. Her description of the horror of this discipline far exceeds anything I can recall, and unfortuanately, pretty much dominates the memory of the sinner in question, regarding that grade in school.

I actually don't remember a lot about kindergarten, except for 'art' class. I learned there how to draw a squirrel. I could reproduce it here, but the real point is that it was a 'copy me' exercise, which is, perhaps (or perhaps not), a good way to begin an art career. I lean towards 'perhaps not' as, if you are successful, which I wasn't, particularly, you are off and running...and if you're not, art is a closed door. A bit too early in one's career for closed doors....perhaps. All I really remember is being disappointed in my squirrel, and the fact that there was little, if any, feedback. More or less, just 'do this'....and move on.

I did find out, years later, that Mrs. D did not enjoy teaching, and was trapped by circumstances, in a dead end job. She was not a bad person, but was just putting in her time, sometimes with less that desirable effects. She did, however, set the tone for what passed for education in the 1950s and 60s.

With only one exception, we were pretty much taught 'do as I do' method. The encouragement was that if you work hard and are honest, you will succeed. Although this IS good advice, generally, I eventually came to find out that it was not the whole story. It is probably my own failing that it took so long to figure this out. And before signing off for now, I must give credit to Mrs. Young, as the only teacher to try to break the mold.