by Jerry Blackerby
“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime,” is a saying I have heard all of my life. I agree completely. The “time” can be different for different people; sometimes as simple as an embarrassment. I learned this lesson my senior year in high school.
Work was scarce in 1949, so Dad accepted a job overseas. With Dad going overseas, we moved back to Mom’s hometown in west Texas for my junior year in high school. I started the first grade at the school in Mom’s hometown and we lived there several other times. We had moved frequently so Dad could find work.
With Dad gone from home, I ran a little wild. Mom tried to control me, but I ignored her most of the time. I skipped school quite frequently and wrote my own excuses, signing Mom’s name. I appeared to get away with writing my own excuses. In reality, both the Principal and Superintendent were retiring and did not want to make an issue of the situation.
Dad came home shortly after school started my senior year. The Korean War had started, jobs were more plentiful, and Dad was going to work in San Angelo. We had a new Principal and new Superintendent at school. The new Superintendent was a classmate of my mothers when she attended school.
The new school administration decided that we would not have a Fair Day at the school, allowing people to attend the West Texas State Fair in Abilene. We had always had a Fair day in the past, but this year we could not attend unless we went on a weekend.
A few of us decided to take a Fair Day anyway. I mentioned going to the Fair to Dad and he told me “No!” Mom and Dad were going to San Angelo for the day to look for a place to live. We would be moving there soon. A couple of buddies and I skipped school and were on the road hitchhiking to Abilene just a few minutes after Mom and Dad left town. We had a fun day at the Fair.
The next school day, I wrote an excuse and signed Mom’s name, as I had done the previous year. I did not hear anything from the Principal’s office that day, so I assumed I had gotten away with it again. The next morning early, I ran my paper route as usual. When I returned to the house, I saw a strange car parked in front. I walked in and saw the new Principal sitting at the kitchen table having coffee with Mom and Dad.
Dad asked, “Son, did you skip school to go to the Fair, after me telling you that you could not go?”
I replied “Yes”, because I do not lie to my Dad.
The Principal said he would talk to me at school and left. I found out that he had been looking at the excuses for several of us that had missed school and asked the Superintendent to look at the excuses also. The Superintendent looked at my excuse and said, “I know that Jerry’s mother did not write this excuse because she is left-handed. This excuse was written by a right-handed person; probably Jerry because he right-handed.”
The previous year, the Principal used a demerit system and the threat of expulsion, which had not corrected my behavior. Our new Principal tacked paper rings onto the bulletin board outside his office. He told each of us to return from lunch 15 minutes early and stand with our nose in a ring. After everyone else had returned from lunch and seen us standing with our noses in the rings, we could go to our classes. We had to do this for one week.
What a humiliating thing to do, especially for a high school Senior! The first day as my classmates returned from lunch we were standing with our noses pressed against the bulletin board paper rings. There was a low mumbling as everyone walked by looking at us. Finally, one boy stopped, pointed at me, laughed loudly and said, “Look at Jerry; looks just like a little kid. That is funny!”
The Principal immediately stepped out of his office, took the boy by his arm and led him into the office. He brought out another paper ring, tacked it onto the bulletin board, and had the laughing boy stand with his nose in a ring.
Everyone in the hall had stopped and now stared at what was happening without saying a word. The Principal said, “Anyone else want to join these students. If not, go to your classes.”
Everyone proceeded to classes and the bell rang. The Principal told us “Go to your classes and I will see each of you here tomorrow at the same time; 15 minutes before lunch hour is over.”
I felt very embarrassed as I entered English class, but no one made any comments. The next day, I was back at the bulletin board with my nose pressed into a paper ring as everyone came back into the school after lunch. Not one person said anything. This continued for one week and I felt less embarrassed each day. We moved to San Angelo a couple of weeks later.
Looking back at the punishment administered to me that week, I think it was the best punishment possible. Demerits and possible expulsion from school had not affected me the previous year. The embarrassment of standing at the bulletin board with my nose in a ring had an impact. I never skipped school again.
I have seen the Superintendent several times at school reunions. He laughed about knowing that Mom was left-handed. They had been classmates in public school at Anson. He said she was the first left-handed person he ever met and he had never forgotten that fact.
The Superintendent told me that he felt the punishment meted out by the Principal was too harsh and never used again after that incident. No one else ever had to stand in the hall with their noses in a ring, as we had.
I told him I felt the punishment that week was fine. This particular punishment definitely made a difference in my life. The embarrassment straightened me out.
Copyright © Jerry Blackerby 2005, 2006, 2009