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I had to wake up at 4:45 am for school every morning (and I had and have sleep apnea) because the bus ride across town to the "magnet" school (Trace, which burn

I had to wake up at 4:45 am for school every morning (and I had and have sleep apnea) because the bus ride across town to the "magnet" school (Trace, which burned down and was rebuilt) took 90 minutes each way. (3 hours of useless travel as the bus made what seemed a hundred stops, almost like a Hilbert curve.) I was not allowed to go to the school a block away (the original Allen Elementary before it moved into Steinbeck Middle School), within walking distance, only because I was white. That's how "desegregation" worked at the SJUSD in the mid-80's and late-90's. Also, there were a group of girls on the bus who harassed me by repeatedly exposing their privates towards me with impunity. It didn't matter if I ignored them, it happened for at least 2 years.

doggodaddo78 5y ago
In fairness, there was another incident where two 5th grade girls (9-10) at the same school tried dragging me into the bushes on the east side of the building out-of-view when I was in the 4th grade (8). Unfortunately for them, there was a space around each bush and the building, so it was easy to slip out next to the building. At the time, I didn't understand what they were doing, so it wasn't that traumatic. The "magnet" schools seemed to group poor and dysfunctional kids together and then try to sprinkle middle-class and gifted kids involuntarily under a social experiment that they'll make the other kids "better" by osmosis. The promise of the "magnet" school was they were supposed to do something extra and get more money, but I think they were a magnet for concentrating problems. My guess is there was a lot of child abuse occurring against girls in the low income areas and at magnet schools, so some of them were experiencing precocious puberty and acting-out. Oddly enough, I was never in a fight with other boys anytime in school, probably because I dwarfed everyone else. Or maybe we were all too tired to care? Also interesting was by high school, which started later, I was able to awaken at the same minute (7:58 am) every day. By then, I bicycled 3.8 miles / 6.1 km twice a day to school; a school with a parking lot full of students' Mercedes and BMWs while the teachers were making peanuts.

doggodaddo78 5y ago

In fairness, there was another incident where two 5th grade girls (9-10) at the same school tried dragging me into the bushes on the east side of the building out-of-view when I was in the 4th grade (8). Unfortunately for them, there was a space around each bush and the building, so it was easy to slip out next to the building. At the time, I didn't understand what they were doing, so it wasn't that traumatic. The "magnet" schools seemed to group poor and dysfunctional kids together and then try to sprinkle middle-class and gifted kids involuntarily under a social experiment that they'll make the other kids "better" by osmosis. The promise of the "magnet" school was they were supposed to do something extra and get more money, but I think they were a magnet for concentrating problems. My guess is there was a lot of child abuse occurring against girls in the low income areas and at magnet schools, so some of them were experiencing precocious puberty and acting-out. Oddly enough, I was never in a fight with other boys anytime in school, probably because I dwarfed everyone else. Or maybe we were all too tired to care? Also interesting was by high school, which started later, I was able to awaken at the same minute (7:58 am) every day. By then, I bicycled 3.8 miles / 6.1 km twice a day to school; a school with a parking lot full of students' Mercedes and BMWs while the teachers were making peanuts.