Schooldays

School pupils were forbidden by law from being out on the street without their cap on. If you were seen on the street without you hat, out of school, you were suspended the next day! When we grew up to be 18 years old we still had to have crew cuts! Every school had its own cap, so that pupils stood out when they walked along the street. The cap worn by the First High School had two thin rows of piping and an owl on the front...! So anyone who saw you on the street knew which school you went to. Things were very strict and disciplined; oppression came from all sides! Teachers could beat you and humiliate you without any complaint from you or from your parents, who left you in their hands without intervening.

Attendance at school church services, held in St. Titus or St. Minas, was enforced by threat of a whole day's suspension. Pupils gathered in their schoolyard and then marched off to church. There was even fierce competition between the gym teachers as to which school would make the best impression on the route to church.

But people were also really poor. Just think that until they went to high school, kids wore shorts and most of them went barefoot. I can remember a classmate of mine who had a pair of shoes he carried with him so they didn't wear out. As soon as he got to school he would wash his feet and then put them on...