Looking back at 8th grade

Starting at age 11 I wore Wing Tips for dress (church and some parties) in the 1950s. In 1959 I was 11 years old. But, I wore size 11 shoes which made me look in Wing Tips like a clown with feet too big. One year later I had grown at least 8 inches so I went from 5 foot 2 inches as an 11 year old to 5 foot 10 inches tall as a 12 year old. By 15 I was 6 foot 1, by age 16 I was 6 foot 3 by the end of high school I was 6 foot 4 by 21 I was almost 6 foot 5.

But, 7th grade was the very worst experience thus far in my life. I hated 7th grade more than any other year in school. I thought grade school was okay because mostly people were nice to me but in 7th grade boys started getting more mean and crazy so you had to stand up to them more in school. We had a game where in 7th grade we would test each other to see who was tougher and also this could end up in a fight if someone flinched or cried or someone could get beaten up if you weren't tough enough like a soldier. So, you had to let someone hit you as hard as they possibly could in your arm and not flinch from the pain. Then you got to hit whoever hit you as hard as you could hit them in the upper arm near the shoulder. This was a sort of duel to see who was the toughest of the two of you. If you didn't do this some boys even that one might beat you up. So, if someone called me out and hit me first I was tough and I always hit them 10 times harder than they hit me so they would leave me alone. This worked.

This was how I avoided fights or getting beat up in Junior High and teachers just watched this happen as it was considered a right of passage then. It was better than running and having a group of boys pick you up and put your head in the toilet sometimes with poop in it or being rolled down a hill in a trash can until you were either bloody or unconscious at the time. This was junior high for me. I didn't like it at all but because I was bigger and stronger than most people my age no one beat me up because I was considered too strong and too tough. So, mostly I protected males and females from being harassed or injured. That was my role in Junior High.