Yes, it’s that special time when boys and girls wave goodbye to the family, wait for the bus, then travel to meet a new instructor.
Sadly, I once boarded the wrong bus and ended up at a senior citizens’ basketball tournament. But that’s another story.
On the plus side, a new school term allows students to get reacquainted with old classmates and find out if the cafeteria still serves “mystery meat,” then guess what reptile it comes from.
On the down side, school opening means kids can no longer sleep late in bed.
Now they must wake up, go to school and sleep in first period. It also means much more reading. But that comes in handy later, when they watch foreign films with subtitles.
For beginning freshmen, a high point is learning the high school’s alma mater.
Most likely it contains phrases about life-long friends, fond memories and praise to the school mascot, who is often a barnyard animal.
The scariest part of school is that everything you see, say and do might possibly be recorded on your “permanent record.”
A friend once told me that this mysterious document follows you from your first day in kindergarten through your last day before retirement.
Rix Quinn is a former magazine publisher who works as an independent biographer and broadcaster.