Posted by Michael N. Marcus on October 7, 2008, 3:53 am
Afterword
By now it should be pretty obvious that many of us were not happy in high school. Some of the kids wore pins that proclaimed OHIM (Oh Hell It’s Monday), TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) or IHTFP (I Hate This "Effing" Place).
Despite a few wonderful teachers and many great friends, the school, as an institution, represented illogic and repression, not education or enlightenment.
Bob LeVine once proudly announced that a magazine article had described Hillhouse as a "prep school for Yale," but the kids weren't impressed. “School spirit” was manifested mainly when we cheered our basketball and football teams.
In October of 2008, as I finished my writing and needed to verify some names, I visited Hillhouse. I felt strangely attracted to what had repulsed me many years earlier. My library research took only minutes, but I did not want to leave my school.
Accidentally but appropriately, I was there during the “Days of Awe,” the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we Jewish people are supposed to be especially introspective.
I walked through the hallways and up and down the stairs. I sat in a classroom, peed in a boy’s john, kept my hand on an old water pipe to feel the building’s pulse, sat in the courtyard and marveled at the size and strength of a tree that I once wanted to chop down to spite the crazy teacher who liked it so much.
I spoke to a librarian who had been at the school for over 40 years. And to a coach who had graduated in 1982 and stayed around. And to a secretary who had graduated in 2002. None of them would rather work anywhere else.
Just as parents make mistakes with their first child and do better with the younger kids, maybe this old school learned from what it did wrong with the class of 1964, and that experience made the school better for those who came later.
I spoke to some students. They were young enough to be my grandchildren. They said Hillhouse is a good school and they like it there. I believe them. I’d probably go back if I had the chance.
YAY, HILLHOUSE!
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