47. Reflecting on Education
For most of my life -- first as a student and later, as an educator -- September signalled the beginning of another school year. During elementary and secondary school years, Mother moved brother Jack and me to stay at the restaurant in Stamford. That way, she could work longer hours with my father instead of busing home to look after us. Chores (peeling potatoes, flattening ground meat into patties, cutting butter into squares, stirring boiling pots, running errands) interspersed with TV would keep us occupied. Summers, my brother stuck pretty close to the restaurant. Eventually, he devised and thrived in a handyman role. Jack was clever with his hands and my parents supported and benefitted from his talent and provided requested tools and materials. There was one summer when I had swimming lessons at the Cyanamid Pool on Stanley Avenue. And another, when I was permitted weekly visits to the public library on Victoria Avenue near the Armoury. It was not that I was d...