High School II

My freshman year of high school I had Latin I, Algebra, English, and General Science. That was the normal load for most ninth graders. There might have been one more class but I don’t remember what it was. Perhaps it was driver’s education. I was signed up for physical education but only attended the class twice in my four years of high school. In those days athletes didn’t have to go to physical education class.

My Latin teacher was Bernice Huffman. I took Latin because I thought I wanted to go to college and everyone told me that I should take Latin. We spent most of our time conjugating verbs. I don’t know why but we practiced that over and over. I found myself doing it in my sleep. School Latin is a rule driven language. The thought must have been that if you learn the rules you learn the language.

Living languages like English are in flux and don’t match up well to rules. They are always taking on new forms and dropping old ones. That is what makes them more functional. A language that doesn’t change is dead. I am always amused at the amateur grammarians who go around correcting everyone else. True grammarians, and I have known a few; know the futility of such pursuits. It is the language of the people and not vice versa.

Anyway, I did average work in Latin class. Miss Huffman moved me to a desk near her desk and went out of her way to be sure I was successful. I guess Latin has been useful to me but I did find it a little confusing when I took Spanish later on.

Dale Mundt was my algebra teacher. I was pretty much clueless in algebra. I just didn’t see any practical application for it and couldn’t get very interested. Mr. Mundt promised that he wouldn’t fail anyone who tried. His measure of that was if you came in once each quarter and asked for help. I did just that and scraped by in that class. At the end of the year he did highly recommend that I not take geometry my sophmore year. I did. More about that when I write about that year.

In ninth grade my English class was mostly drill and practice of grammar. That was a shock for me after a very successful eighth grade English experience with Mrs. McDowell. In eighth grade we actually used the language and read and wrote a lot. I adjusted but did not like it nearly as well. My ninth grade teacher, Mrs. Traut, was a nice enough person but the class was a disappointment to me. The influence of my mother and teachers like Mrs. McDowell had convinced me that language learning was a fun and engaging experience. I guess they spoiled me and I didn’t like it when it turned into work.

My Science teacher was Kent Atchison. He was young, owned a Corvette and was a pilot. Everyone, especially the girls, liked him. I loved the class and did well. One evening Mr. Atchison gave me a plane ride to Des Moines and back. He had to go for some reason and I went along. Round trip was less than 3 hours. It was pretty cool!

All in all my entire freshman year was a good year. The varsity football team was undefeated, untied and unscored upon that year. A feat unheard of and to my knowledge never duplicated anywhere to this day. I got to play in a few of those games. It wasn’t because I was so good. It was because the team was so good and would get so far ahead that Coach Evans would let the freshman play. I remember for the Fairfield game Mt. Pleasant dressed over one hundred players and every one got in the game for at least one play.

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur (“Anything in Latin sounds profound”).