I'm in the middle of reading Bill O'Reilly's latest book, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. Although I'm a bit older than he, we had the same type of background and education. He had 16 years of Catholic school education, the first 8 years with the nuns.
While reading, I could see the same scenario playing out in my own Catholic school with the nuns and their battles or set-to's with the boys. Of course, the girls never did anything wrong, the boys on the other hand bore the brunt of the discipline.
The discipline, or maybe it was the sense of responsibility instilled in us, allowed us to learn even though there were 60 children in a class with one nun and no assistants.
I am enjoying this book immensely. Some parts bring me back to my own childhood in Queens and the freedom that we had. Summers were a time to enjoy at our own pace, we had no schedules. Ah, the good old days. The lazy, hazy days of summer.
If you get a chance, read this book. It is particularly enjoyable for anyone who came from a blue collar working neighborhood and had the opportunity to attend Catholic school and be exposed to the nuns. What a wonderful education I had.
Now I have to get back to my book.
3 comments:
Pardon me for interrupting Cathy M. There's nothing quite like an absorbing book. Excuse me too; I'm reading my shiny new Anthology of Australian Literature ... bits and pieces of the best from the time of Governor Phillips' landing in Sydney Cover to now ... pretty heavy weight-wise, as you can imagine.
June in Oz
I have Bold Fresh, also, and will start to read it in a couple weeks. My husband enjoyed it. I gave it to him as a gift. We both enjoy Bill O'Reilly.
We did have good childhood experiences, didn't we? The Sisters were great teachers. I think that we have very good teachers today, but they are up against so much classroom nonsense from some kids. All schools should have a no tolerance rule for disrespect...Something like the no tolerance rule some districts are wisely utilizing where bullying is concerned.
ms/sss
love bill o r... am planning on this read as well.. there i'm keeping it short and pithy :)
blessings
gp
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