I don't know if I would recognize anyone from my 6th grade class. I didn't have a good time in 6th Grade. We had a hateful teacher, Mr. Munsterman (I called him Mr. Monsterman) who played obvious favorites with students. I guess he thought it built character in the other students if it was obvious you weren't on his good list. He was a mean, nasty man and he helped to make 6th grade (a time of change for most students anyway) even more unpleasant.
We had over 600 students in my high school graduating class which is one of the reasons I don't attend. I know that most of those I was friends with wouldn't bother going anyway and I have nothing to say to the other 550 people who might show up. I didn't have a bad time in high school, I was actually pretty lucky that I wasn't singled out by those who could make my life miserable. There were a few other more obvious candidates they chose. I actually did have rather high status because I was prominent in the Drama and Speech department. While that usually spelled doom for students in many schools it didn't seem to make that much difference at Coon Rapids Senior High School. That was in 1971. Things have changed! My nephew has just finished his sophomore year there and he is not returning. He hasn't had a hellish year but because he likes theatre (and musicals) he has been taunted as being *gay* or a fag (he's not, he's one of those straight boys who likes musicals, God Forbid). Other things have happened as well so my brother and sister-in-law have decided it's worth the price for my nephew and niece to attend a private school. According to others in my family, my senior high school, which was once a respected, good school is now a sh*thole. Too bad. As I said, I don't have bad memories of high school, in fact in many ways it saved my sanity (difficult childhood and all) and pointed me to ways out. I just have no desire to reconnect with many people I haven't seen for 30 years.
