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May 18, 2014

Sharing Memories Week 20: Remembering Grades 12 & 13

Sharing Memories Week 20: Remembering Grades 12 & 13
Join us for Sharing Memories - A Genealogy Journey We focus on memories of our parents, grandparents and others. We write for our children and grandchildren, that the memories are not lost over time. I hope you are keeping a journal, whether it is private or public, and joining us as we write our memoirs.

 Today's prompt is "Remembering Grades 12 & 13". Grade 12 was nothing special for me. Nothing really stands out. I was with the same kids I started Grade 9 with. Grade 13 was rough. I had a knee operation that year and couldn't complete my year. It was too difficult hobbling around school on crutches, trying to carry books and binders and get into some kind of bearable sitting position in class. 

 I  obtained my credits but my marks were very low. My widowed mother had moved that year to another city, leaving me with my older brother and his wife.  I decided to move in with her and repeat my Grade 13 to bring my marks up.

 Grade 13 in a new city with new classmates was difficult. Luckily I excelled in Math so the kids in my class started phoning me for help with Algrebra, Geomety and Trigonometry. That gave me instant friends! But my mother got mad because I was spending so much time helping others that I couldn't always get my own homework done. 

 I joined the choir at my new school and we had a chance to travel to Egypt and Russia that summer to perform. I was so excited to be going but my mother said she couldn't afford to pay anything. The school stepped in and offered to pay my way because it was such an amazing opportunity. But mother refused, saying she would not accept charity. I was pretty upset and angry with her.

One of my new friends brought me back a Nefertiti paperweight which was very sweet of her and I still have it. That's really all I remember of Grade 13.

What are your memories? 
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7 comments:

  1. Marcy Belles8:57 PM

    question: What is Grade 13? Unless you are meaning Freshmen year of College.

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  2. Olive Tree Genealogy8:23 AM

    Marcy - nope I mean Grade 13. The last year of High School when High School was a 5 year process.

    The Ontario education system had five years of secondary education, known as Grades 9- 13 from 1921 to 1988

    Don't know if other locations had it too. :-)

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  3. Anonymous10:07 AM

    Well, if we in the US designated kindergarten as 1st grade we would have grade 13 also. Did you have a Kindergarten in Canada? What age were you expected to be in your grade 13?
    Boy I would have been upset with my mother too if I missed out on travelling like you did.

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  4. Olive Tree Genealogy2:59 PM

    We don't change the designations of the Grades :-) We had K to 8, then 9-13 which was High School.

    Now there is JK (Junior Kindergarten) , SK (Senior Kindergarten) up to Gr. 12. No more Gr 13 since 1988.

    It meant we had one more year of education before going to to University (I think you call it College in USA)

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  5. Marcy Belles1:37 AM

    Thanks, Lorine, for the clarification. In the US, we actually call our education K-20. Kindergarten, Grades 1-3 (Primary), 4-6(Secondary), 7-8(Middle),9-12, 13-20 would be Higher Education (Community College, 4-year Colleges or Universities, then Masters & Phd programs). Sometimes Grade 6 would be at the Middle School (formerly known as Junior High) and sometimes 9th Grade would be at the Middle School.

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  6. Olive Tree Genealogy7:01 AM

    Hi Marcy

    Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't aware of your calling it "K-20"

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  7. Anonymous9:53 PM

    Thank you for clearing that up. I have attended school in both Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The grade systems are different from the United States, however it is always good to have it explained out so when I speak to my friends in the US, I am better informed.

    ReplyDelete