Our primary 8th grade teacher to start the school year was Ms. Darlene. She looked like your traditional grade school teacher. She had short blond hair, glasses, and had almost birdlike features. She moved in short steps in her formal shoes. Ms. Darlene was a nice lady, who was ill equipped to deal with our 7th and 8th grade class. Once the class had gotten to know her, we began to push boundaries. Kids are instinctual, once they identify weakness, they are merciless. Our class was no different.
Ms. Darlene was soft. She had a southern drawl that gave away her rural background. While her genteel ways may have worked down in southern Illinois it wasn’t going to fly in Chicago. After the first quarter of the school year the class began to overwhelm her. In truth we wore her out. Tim and Reggie were probably the main perpetrators, but I played my role as well. I looked back at my 8th grade report card in the comments section. In the 2nd quarter Ms. Darlene commented on my change of attitude for the worse. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t do anything outright mean or outrageous. It was a slow buildup of pushing the boundaries and making offhand comments here and there. For Ms. Darlene I think it was akin to Chinese water torture. It was a slow process that took time to fully play out, but by the time 1989 rolled around, she was a basket case. By February of 1989, Ms. Darlene had reached her limit and thrown in the towel. I’m not sure if she had a breakdown of sorts or just called up one day and declared that she was going on a permanent vacation. We no longer had an 8th grade teacher. The inmates were now running the asylum.
So what courageous figure was going to step forward to try and restore order in the classroom? Mr. Steve Simpson. I don’t know where they found this guy, but he was actually a sound choice. That doesn’t mean that I liked him at the time. Mr. Simpson was a younger guy, probably mid to late 20’s. But he carried himself like a teacher and made no attempt to win favor with the class. He was professional, imagine that? Mr. Simpson was also in good shape physically and that also contributed to his ability to control the class. He wasn’t tall, but he was put together solidly enough and looked after himself.
In truth, he came across as a thoroughly decent guy who probably went to bed each night after having a warm glass of milk while watching an episode of the 700 Club. If I had to guess, he probably grew up well outside Chicago and attended Wheaton College. I don’t think Steve stuck around after finishing the school year at G.O. Good for him, he probably went on to do well enough for himself. I may not have had much affinity for him, but he was what the class needed at the time and overall, he was a positive and stabilizing influence.
Our gym and math instructor, Jolene, was a little different from the rest of the staff at G.O. She would let us play “Worldly” music during recess or gym class. She was in her early 30’s, athletic, personable, and smart. All of us liked Jolene as she came across as relatively normal and kind. Oddly enough, a memory that sticks is an exercise in gym class she taught us. The drill required two people who started from a back to back sitting position and would then lock arms to stand up in unison. I’m not sure what the point of the drill was but I remember that she picked me as her partner to demonstrate to the class how to execute the drill. I remember sitting back to back with her, locking arms and standing up together. Success! But it felt weird. It was a lot of physical contact and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Most of what she did I think came from a really good place, but there were times where it felt like she wanted to be one of the class as opposed to a teacher. There wasn’t as clear a distinction between a teacher and the students as there should have been. Her journey at G.O. would end three years later in spring of ’92 in rather ignominious fashion. But that’s another story for another time for someone else to tell.
Now that we’ve met the teaching staff of the school let’s move to the matter of academics in 8th grade. I have a decent memory, but honestly, I can hardly remember any of the schoolwork from 8th grade. It was a joke. Now mind you, I can remember my book report in 6th grade. Going to the library and putting in some serious work to complete a 10-page report. I remember the curriculum change in 7th grade where we studied out of LifePacks; each student learned at their own pace. But 8th grade from a scholastic point of view was laughable. For the first time in my life I received straight A’s on my first quarter report card. I had never come close to grades like that in the past. How the hell did I earn those marks? No clue. I couldn’t tell you much of anything about what we studied. There was no exposure to Algebra. I don’t recall a single book from English class that we read and reviewed. Mind you, I liked books and I enjoyed reading at that age. I do remember the school wheeling in on old TV to try an introduce Spanish as a class. We also had a science project where me and my friend Jonathon took his old, smelly pair of Air Jordan II’s that he wore the year prior and took them apart in an attempt to explain the technology that made them a superior basketball shoe. That’s about all that sticks out scholastically. We were woefully underprepared for high school standards, especially from a math and science standpoint.
We had some qualified teachers in the years prior, but in 8th grade with the shambolic nature of Ms. Darlene’s tenure as the primary 8th grade teacher, there was a huge gap where nothing of substance was taken on. But hey, at the time, we weren’t too concerned. We loved it!
Gospel Outreach School and High School Memories 1988-1992 