My name is Brenda, and I was born in 1954. I received my early education at a Catholic parochial school in a small New England town. During those years I received corporal punishment at school only once. That was in the third grade, but my story really begins a year earlier. In 1961 I began the second grade at Saint J_______ School. Unlike the previous year, when we were immature first graders, my classmates and I were allowed to attend school assemblies. They were held in the gym, and we all stood-eighth graders in the front, second graders in the back, everyone else in between-for prayers, the national anthem, and announcements.
Catholic School in New England1
