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Violence 4
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Rowan High-Jinks : An account of one persons time at Hattiesburg High
School, Rowan Campus-by Patrick Moore (special to ATI)
(Dedicated to Mrs. Andrelle Nicholson, who had the unmitigated gall to
reject one of my original compositions and give me an "F" because she
thought it was copied, and Mr. Wally Gregg, who took it upon himself the
task of suspending me from school without so much as the benefit of a
hearing, or even telling me.)
PROLOGUE
For my part, I was one of those that scored unusually high on
achievement tests, but did poorly in classes. There was just not enough
in the HPSD to keep kids like me from looking outside the window,
because the classwork was so goddamned boring.
When I graduated in 1982, I began to discover what the HPSD failed to
offer. I took my ASVAB in 1984, and scored high enough to have my pick
of any job in the military I wanted. I chose communications. In 1987, I
began working as a direct support technician on FM tactical radio
equipment, which was a prize job. I was only one of 5 in the entire
battalion qualified for such work.
Frank Zappa once said, "If you want to get an education, go to the
library." I learned more in the Hattiesburg Public Library than I did in
the classroom. I spent so much time there that the staff allowed me
access to areas normally off limits to normal patrons. I knew the Dewey
Decimal System by heart, and the staff allowed me the unusual privilege
of setting up and running microfiche machines. On more than one
occasion, I corrected new staff members on the proper way to thread a
microfiche. (I bet I can still thread and run an old microfiche
machine!)
Yet, in the classroom, I felt trapped.
Trapped because I wanted to take a different direction than what the
school board prescribed. The system didnt take into account wildcards
like me, or offer anything besides the daily drudgery of classwork.
TIMELINES
DATELINE 1970: Hattiesburg High recieves a desegregation order.
Beginning at the start of the 1970-71 school year, Blair High
(Hattiesburgs white high school) and Rowan High (the Black school) were
ordered to admit students of all races. However, many parents find ways
to skirt the order.
1972: The Justice department looks at the Hattiesburg school system, and
declares that the HPSD hasnt taken effective steps to enforce the
desegregation order. As a result, Rowan becomes the citys 10th grade
school, Blair the 11th and 12th.
1979: I begin my 10th grade year at HHS-Rowan, and learn about
schoolhouse politics. I thought the REACH program was off-kilter, giving
preference to children of well-to-do parents. By now it was full-blown
favoritism.
1980: I am given an assignment to write a report. I turn it in, within a
few minutes I get it back with an "F" and the word "COPIED" at the
bottom.
Two months later, I find myself on suspension. Why? I had a habit of
arriving to school early, and decided to grab a smoke before school. How
did I find out? One of my teachers told me, after he saw my name on the
daily absentee report. It seemed that Mr. Wally Gregg had decided to
suspend me for 1 day because I was smoking, and didnt bother telling
me. (Can you say violation of the 4th amendment?) So, I took a days
vacation.
Then, in May 1980, I get news that somebody had torched Rowan School.
Not that it was any big surprise. Tensions had built up over the past
few years over the treatment of students by the faculty. I can only
wonder what pushed someone over the edge to actually do it. It didnt
take police long to find a suspect. It turned out the person that did it
had flunked several grades, and was thoroughly fed up with his treatment
by Rowan officials.
The next year, I went to Blair. Things went far better there than at
Rowan. I began getting As and Bs, and had teachers who were genuinely
interested in my achievement.
So, if there is to be something taken from this, it is this: just because
you have a few setbacks in High School does not mean you will do badly
once you leave.
