Education of a Polymath

Abstract

I’ve had the opportunity in life to get a great education. I had some good teachers along the way. Professors, well, not so good. I graduated 13th in my High School Class. I was the Valedictorian in Grade 9 at St Peter’s Catholic School in the north End of Saint John, but the award was given to a student who was neighbours with the principal, AS. He said our Shop grade should not count because we had to go to a different school which had the facilities for shop. The only way I found out that I was the true valedictorian was from the guy who came second. His shop grade did not count either. The prizes were $1000 for first place; and $500 for second place. I finished 3rd and got nothing. I was also the homecoming King. I remember that there was an awful mix of socioeconomic backgrounds in the students. I was in the middle or upper middle. The sons and daughter of Doctors and Lawyers felt like they should not have had to associate with those from the North End. There were lots of drugs around; both in the rich and poor kids. There were rapes or gang bangs of the girls in the woods in Milledgeville. An Indian brought a gun into school. BS, son of the principal, despised me simply because I did well in school. I played organized hockey. He hated me because I had nice equipment. I recall that SC, in Grade 8, ratted on me after I told him I didn’t have my English homework done. My father drove him to hockey every time. The teacher said I dropped from first to second in English in grade 8. There were two classes of each grade.