Retrospect: can’t

Self-tutoring about people and events of the past: the tutor reflects….

At my school grades 4-7, the gym was definitely central. Sports events were popular, and of course every kid had to take PE class, athletic or not. I wasn’t sports-oriented, but I usually enjoyed gym class. The gym was big, so often another class was there as well. It was like a community in there, and always interesting to see what else was going on.

One year, posters started to appear on the gym walls. They were on poster board, made using markers and coloured pencils, obviously by students. They had a common theme:

The word Can’t is not to be used in this gym.

I later realized that punishment for mischief had changed from staying after school to making posters – hence the reason so many appeared along the gym walls. As a result, you couldn’t say “I can’t do it.” Rather, you had to keep trying.

I wonder – does that tradition continue there? I can’t recall seeing such posters anywhere else. Yet, they were comforting at the time, for some reason.

One final note – the posters were generally much better than one I’d have done. I guess the kids who got detention were generally more artistic than I was.