Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1982

Dublin Core

Title

Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1982

Description

Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1982

Publisher

Churchill County Museum Association

Date

1982 (unknown date)

Format

Analog Cassette Tape, .docx file, Mp3 Audio

Language

English

Oral History Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Audio Cassette

Duration

37:40

Transcription

Anne Gibbs Berlin 1982 Interviews

Conducted by unnamed students

Transcribed by Raeburn Sottile

This interview was done in 1982 as part of a school project. It was not initially included in the Churchill County Oral History Project, but has been added to Anne Gibbs Berlin's file as it contains some information about her life and especially about being a teacher in Churchill County.  

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Churchill County Museum or any of its employees.

KIDS: Okay, thank you for coming! How long have you lived here?

BERLIN: I've lived here Sixty…. Six years

KIDS: Sixty-six years! I just moved [laughter] Okay, and since you were a school teacher, I'd like to know what kind of children you had to teach. Were they mostly bad or…

BERLIN: Honey, they were just like they are today. Kids don't change at all. There's some good and some bad. Most of them are pretty nice.

KIDS: Did you teach a lot of kids? Were there a lot of students in the classroom and stuff?

BERLIN: When I was… Well, I taught grammar school in McGill for a year – McGill, Nevada. Do you know where that is?

KIDS: I've heard of it.

BERLIN: I taught fifth grade, and then I taught [inaudible] in English. And then I came to high school here, and at high school I taught all four years, and some years I guess we had, you know, large classes and some years small, and I wish I'd kept track of it but I didn't. If I were Mr. Hansen I'd keep track of how many kids I taught each year and their names and things, but I didn't. I wish I had.

KIDS: Okay. Did you have to have… were the school buildings like this now?

BERLIN: Yes, uh-huh, right.

KIDS: When the children were bad, how did you discipline them?

BERLIN: I looked mean.

KIDS: [laughter] Did you… like nowadays they give you swats [?] if you're real bad, or something where they discipline you. Did you give them anything like that?

BERLIN: We could send students to the office in high school. But I don't think- I didn't do

KIDS: What kind of things did the children do?

BERLIN: Exactly what you'd think they do. There are no new tricks. Every class does the same- I had one student who did something original. And his name was Kunio Kajikami, and he could make a paper airplane that would fly around the corner. In other words, he could sit at his desk and make a paper airplane that would go out the door. Right, he was the- that was the best, neatest trick I ever saw. And another thing that kids used to do that I think they've forgotten about now, the next generation, they used to take ball bearings in study hall, and then they'd roll them up and down the aisle, and it would make a nice sound, and it was a good trick because you were never sure which student did it.

KIDS: Oh really?

BERLIN: Uh-huh

KIDS: Did any of the people fall down off of them.

BERLIN: Well, they were under the desk, you see. The desks were stationary, so the ball bearings would just roll up and down and make noise. That was a good trick. But most of the other tricks I wouldn't say there's anything new.

KIDS: Did they ever talk back to you? Any of the children ever talk back to you?

BERLIN: Uh, no. Of course, I was in high school, and by the time you're in high school…

KIDS: You've usually learned better?

BERLIN: Yeah. Well, this is the nicest, where you people are and high school. I think the hardest place to teach, as everybody tells you, is junior high. Have you already heard that? But I'd say most students are… are nice.

KIDS: What would the principle do to like kids that would always beat up other kids, like the bullies. What would you do to them? What would the principal do to them?

BERLIN: In high school I honestly don't know. One of the things when I first started to teach, they had what they called a demerit system. And if a student were sent to the office I think it was three times then he had to serve on the broom squad a certain number of hours. And there was an excellent janitor named Art Corbeil, and he would make the kids work, for instance outside on the lawn, inside sweeping, and it was excellent. My brother learned more there than he did anywhere else. He learned how to take care of a lawn and how to run a vacuum cleaner, and it was very good training.

KIDS: Mmm-hmm. Did you or did the principal did he ever put you in the office and you just had to sit there and do their homework?

BERLIN: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In fact I think right now of several of my friends who spent more time in the office than they did in the classroom.

KIDS: [Laughter] What was the homework like when you taught school? Did they have a lot of it or…? Was it easy?

BERLIN: I don't- Of course, I can't talk about what other people do, but one thing I never, ever did do, I didn't ever assign homework I didn't check. I think the worst thing you can do to a student is say "Write out the answers to the questions at the end of the chapter" and then take them in but not read them. I think homework is alright if there's a purpose. But if it's just busywork? No.

KIDS: So did you… did the answers go out [?] or did you just assign them? How did you correct them? Did you do them in class or did you just check them?

BERLIN: I graded what I assigned. I do not approve of letting one student grade another student's paper. I don't like that.

KIDS: Then they might cheat or something?

BERLIN: Well, they make too many mistakes. And then another thing I never did like was just calling for the grades in class. So some poor little kid gets 40 and you all turn around to look at him because he's dumb and some of you get a hundred and then everybody's… I don't like that. I think your grades, that there should be a privacy about your grades. You shouldn't ever embarrass a student, I think.

KIDS: Did any children that you know of… did they ever say they had a higher grade than they usually do?

BERLIN: Oh, of course, of course, yeah.

KIDS: What was the most popular types of clothes that they wore?

BERLIN: Now, my happiest memory of what the kids wore is when the girls wore sweaters and skirts, and they'd wear socks that matched their sweaters and their hair was pretty and the girls were pretty.

KIDS: What kind of hairstyle did they wear?

BERLIN: Well, the hairstyles would vary, you know, from year to year. There was short hair and long hair and flips and…

KIDS: What did they usually pull up in buns or [inaudible] ponytails with a string?

BERLIN: They were straight. [pause] Now, I didn't ever live in the age when kids wore their hair up. But the years I taught, now I retired in 1970. …Didn't I? Yeah. And then the next several years I substituted a lot. And I noticed a great difference in that the girls didn't look nearly as attractive as they did when I taught. One day I went to school and at the end of the day somebody told me it was scrounge day. And I didn't- well, that's the day when you're supposed to look "scroungy." And I didn't even know it! I was so used to seeing everybody look scroungy that I didn't know it was scrounge day. But it was a great place, it used to be, because, as I say, the girls really made an effort, you know, to look nice. And the boys, now for a long time boys wore cords [corduroy]  and you would try to wear your cords all year and if your mother washed them that was a great tragedy. I think the boys probably dress better. One thing that I never get used to with boys is some of them wear their hats inside. I just can't get over that.

KIDS: How some of them wear baseball hats?

BERLIN: Yeah, uh-huh. That bothers me.

KIDS: Did the boys usually wear t-shirts?

BERLIN: Shirts, shirts for a long time.

KIDS: Was most of the pants just… pants or were they jeans mostly?

BERLIN: Well, as I say for a long time it was cords. And then gradually the jeans came. But the jeans have been- now, when I was growing up, the boys wore in grade school bib overalls, just like you have on, only they were overalls.

KIDS: The jeans ones?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: Did the girls… Did they mostly wear skirts or dresses?

BERLIN: Oh, skirts. Oh, no, no, no, no. Skirts, uh-huh.

KIDS: They were popular then, right? 

BERLIN: And in fact, until I retired teachers were not allowed to wear pants to school, slacks to school. Oh no, no no. Wearing what you kids wear I say would be the last 10, 15 years.

KIDS: Oh, nowadays most of the girls wear jeans.

BERLIN: Right, right, uh-huh.

KIDS: [murmuring to each other] Okay, what kind of tricks did the students play on the teachers? Did they put whoopee cushions on the chairs?

BERLIN: Do what?

KIDS: What kind of tricks did they play?

BERLIN: What are whoopee cushions?

KIDS: They're like little plastic things filled with air and when you sit on them it makes a loud noise.

BERLIN: You know, that's a new trick. I don't think they ever did that.

KIDS: They never played any tricks on you?

BERLIN: Oh, of course, as I say, of course they did.

KIDS: What kind of tricks did they play on you?

BERLIN: Once upon a time- No, I can tell you his name in a minute – put a toad in my desk. And I'd spent my whole life catching, you know, toads, and I was supposed to be frightened, but I wasn't. And they'd do, they'd do, you know, all the things that they [kids overtalking] uh-huh.

KIDS: Did the children play any tricks on any other teachers, that you recall?

BERLIN: I remember once a very brilliant student named Victor Williamson lives here now built a bomb. He put an electric… he put an old alarm clock in it and then put it in the high school and they thought it was a bomb. And they had the bomb- the fire squad down looking for it.

KIDS: [Laughter] and it was just a clock?

BERLIN: It was just a clock. Sure, sure.

KIDS: [Inaudible]

BERLIN: No. One of the things that has always interested me about kids. Probably every kid in that school knew that that was a fake bomb. No teacher knew it. I have never been able to understand how every student knows and no teacher knows. One thing that students like to do is set off firecrackers.

KIDS: Uh-huh

BERLIN: Okay, a firecracker goes off in the middle of a class. Everybody in that school knew who set off that firecracker.

KIDS: -Except for the teacher.

BERLIN: Except for any of the teachers. And how the kids know when they're in the class I don't understand. But they know. They know.

KIDS: Did a lot of kids pass notes.

BERLIN: Oh yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah.

KIDS: Have you ever caught any of them?

BERLIN: Yeah, and I didn’t read the notes.

KIDS: Open them up?

BERLIN: Yeah, oh mostly I wouldn't even bother with them, but I wouldn't read one.

KIDS: Did the kids play tricks on other kids that went real bad?

BERLIN: I don't know

KIDS: Like they're really… Like large guys and tough people play them on girls and stuff, play tricks on them.

BERLIN: You know, I don't remember. And I don't ever remember that girls fought girls. Like now I hear about girls getting into fights, and I think that is new. I don't remember that.

KIDS: Did any boys say real bad things about the teachers?

BERLIN: Oh, I'm sure they did.

KIDS: Do you remember?

BERLIN: No, but I'm sure they did, you know. They probably said really mean things about me, but I didn't… The less you know the better, I say.

KIDS: Okay. [Pause] How long were the vacations and holidays? Like over Christmas?

BERLIN: Well, it seems to me like… I think we got one week at Easter and two weeks for Christmas usually.  I think maybe they… We didn't get out usually quite as early as you people do now, as I remember.

KIDS: So you got longer vacations and stuff?

BERLIN: Well yeah, but we also, honey, went a little longer in June, which…

KIDS: Okay. Did um… [long pause, nervous giggle]

BERLIN: Go ahead, say it. Turn off the tape recorder if you don't want to say it.

KIDS: Yeah… um… I just forgot. Before you guys had your vacation for Christmas, did you have parties?

BERLIN: Yes, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: Did you have little games like…

BERLIN: Oh we… one that we used to always have a big dance just before Christmas vacation with refreshments. That was when the kids- I still remember the kids whose mothers were the best cooks, because they would bring the most beautiful cakes.

KIDS: Oh yeah! Was that during, like…

BERLIN: No, well, I was in high school, so they were at night they weren't during the day, as you kids have them now.

KIDS: Did they have any kind of games that everyone would bring a present, but not for a special person. They'd play a game and everybody would get a present?

BERLIN: Not in high school. Probably they did that at grammar school. [Inaudible]

KIDS: How many hours did you teach a day? Were they long or?

BERLIN: I think it was just about the same.

KIDS: Hmm. Did you spend time after?

BERLIN: I spent most of my life after grading papers. All English teachers spend their lives grading papers, yes, yes, yes.

KIDS: Like now they spend an hour or so after school.

BERLIN: Oh, I'm sure that- One of the things that I used to like, we could go home right [End of tape 1 side A]

KIDS: -just gonna say?

BERLIN: One thing, I think, when I talk about the way school used to be and the way it is now, I think the big difference is drugs. When I taught we had no idea what drugs were. And it would be very difficult for me, I'm sure, now, because I wouldn't know whether somebody was on drugs or not probably.

KIDS: Did they have lockers?

BERLIN: Oh yeah, oh surely, surely.

KIDS: Did they change classes?

BERLIN: Oh surely, uh-huh, oh yeah, uh-huh.

KIDS: Do you know if like every single other Friday to make sure there weren’t drugs and stuff?

BERLIN: We didn't check for drugs but every once in so often my friend Mrs. Sawyer, who was the librarian, and I would check all the lockers for lost library books. And we found a great many. And now I understand that locker searches… is it illegal now?

KIDS: Well, they still do it.

BERLIN: It is. Uh-huh, uh-huh. No, the only thing we looked for was lost library books. And we'd get so excited when we found them.

KIDS: [laughter]

BERLIN: What would that lady's name be Sawyer. S-A-W-Y-E-R.

KIDS: Did they ever find any drugs in any of them?

BERLIN: No, no. You see, I quit before the drug scene came on. As I say, that would be very difficult for me, I'm sure, because I wouldn't know what happening.

KIDS: What were the most popular types of clothes that the teachers wore.

BERLIN: Suits. Suits. We wore suits and dresses.

KIDS: Suits and tie… What was the most popular color that they wore?

BERLIN: Oh, I think they changed from year to year.

KIDS: What kind of types of clothes did they mostly wear? Little bows or little vests and fancy things or just plain?

BERLIN: Well, I would say more tailored clothes for school. Some of the ladies looked prettier than others. We had one pretty teacher whose name was Jenny Johns who always wore a flower in her hair. And I saw her at a class reunion and she still has a flower in her hair. She still looks pretty.

KIDS: Uh-huh. [long pause] What were the most types of famous hairstyles that they wore?

BERLIN: Well, I should have looked through the back yearbooks to find out, but the hairstyles did vary. And I think probably the biggest variation was in length.

KIDS: Were they mostly like my hair or long hair?

BERLIN: The girls, their hair was mostly curled. It was set. I don't remember anybody wore straight hair as you do now. If your hair weren't curly you'd set it that way. 

KIDS: When they started school was it really early? Or did you start school later?

BERLIN: We'd start at 9. Uh-huh.

KIDS: Nowadays they start at…

BERLIN: It starts early! My friend Pat Oxborrow has a class at 7:30, I think! You know, real early in high school. That would kill me.

KIDS: Pat Osgood?

BERLIN: Oxborrow. Well, several teachers in the high school start at 7:30, because you see the school is so crowded that they have to get kids in that early.

KIDS: Hmm… Okay. [Long pause] Were there a lot of fights then?

BERLIN: No, no, no, no. Ocassionally- Always, you know, once in a while there's an exciting big fight at noon. But no, and I don't… This "gang" idea I don't think had developed either. There were these big fights at noon, but that was about it, I think.

KIDS: Did… Nowadays, you know, you can check with the principal and see if you want to box with a friend or something, did they do that back then?

BERLIN: Box with a friend?

KIDS: Like boxing?

BERLIN: I don't think so, I don't know. I don't remember.

KIDS: Okay.

BERLIN: I can't imagine Mr. Hansen making a date to box somebody can you? I don't know, maybe he did! [Laughing] maybe he did!

KIDS: How many years did you teach school?

BERLIN: 33

KIDS: 33 years, I can't imagine! Were most of them happy years?

BERLIN: Oh yes, uh-huh. Oh yes, I loved it.

KIDS: How long were recesses between classes? Or did you have them?

BERLIN: Well, in high school we didn't have recess. But at the grade schools I'm sure it was just about like it is now. Really, I don't think it's changed very much, really.

KIDS: In between classes like nowadays you get three minutes between each class to get your books and other stuff. How long did they have that? 

BERLIN: That's always been in effect.

KIDS: Three minutes? Still?

BERLIN: uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. And some people are always late for class.

KIDS: What would happen to them if they were tardy?

BERLIN: Oh, I think sometimes teachers would keep track of it, you know, and if you were late three times they'd take something off your grade or something, you know.

KIDS: Did they ever keep them after school like they do now, or you can stay 10 minutes and read a book or something?

BERLIN: I don't think so. At least not in high school.

KIDS: Did you ever have pets?

BERLIN: Yes, yes, uh-huh.

KIDS: Was Mr. Hansen one of them?

BERLIN: Oh, I shouldn't answer that. Mr. Hansen was a nice boy, and so was Mr. Erquiaga, and so was Mr. Heck.

KIDS: Did you have more than just one pet?

BERLIN: [Laughs] Well, probably one year I might have two or three and then maybe I'd go a few years and not have any.

KIDS: Oh! [Laughter] okay. Did most kids hand in all their work? Did they usually get in trouble if they give you…

BERLIN: You had a lot of trouble because most… Some of the kids forgot to hand in their work. Correct.

KIDS: Did they ever give you the excuse "My dog ate it?"

BERLIN: Uh-huh, correct. Correct. Or "My mother threw it away" or "my little brother spilled his mush on it" or… yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

KIDS: Did the teachers always used to joke with the children?

BERLIN: Well, some teachers did and some teachers… We had one math teacher forever whose name was Mr. Bogan who didn't ever joke with anybody, you know, I mean it's just… Some teachers do and some teachers don't.

KIDS: Did you used to always joke with the children in the classroom?

BERLIN: I was mean.

KIDS: [Laughter] You changed. Did they have any special days like… some days the teachers will get a rest in one year, like a day for rest? Like give a day off for the teachers.

BERLIN: No, that would be a lovely idea. That's a good idea!

KIDS: How long did the… Okay, like, if you classes start at 9, how long did they end?

BERLIN: Well some… Now for a while we used to have 30 minute classes. Then we tried an hour class. And the object- the students were supposed to spend half an hour in class and half an hour studying. And that didn't work out too well because they got… it was too long, yeah. Then I think they finally settled for 45 minute classes, yeah. But they'd change, you know, go back and try new things.

KIDS: [Murmuring to each other] How long was the whole day at school?

BERLIN: Well, as I remember most of the time it was from 9 to 3:30.

KIDS: To three? That's longer than it is now…

BERLIN: But of course you start earlier too, though.

KIDS: Did you, like now we have about 10 minutes to read books, did you have that then?

BERLIN: What do you mean, honey?

KIDS: Like before class starts. Read your book for 10 minutes, and then you start classes.

BERLIN: No we didn't.

KIDS: You just go straight to class and then you start…?

BERLIN: That'd be handy! You could copy some kids' work in the 10 minutes before class started!

KIDS: [laughs] oh yeah, "Good job!" Yeah, right. [Long pause] when kids would keep talking to each other in class would you scooch-

BERLIN: You put Mr. Moore in the front seat, yes, uh-huh. You'd move them around. Yes, uh-huh.

KIDS: How did you usually have the seating?

BERLIN: I used to do alphabetically. 

KIDS: Did it work out that way?

BERLIN: Well, I don't know. Sometimes it did. I had a student whose name was Gene Akins, and the poor kid sat in front all his life. And then when he was… finally, when he was a senior he asked me if he could sit – he always had to sit in front – he asked me if he could sit in back.

KIDS: [murmuring] were they usually boy-girl-boy-girl? 

BERLIN: No, I didn't bother with that.

KIDS: Did you ever have any problem with the girls just talking between classes or do that kind of boring…?

BERLIN: Oh, surely, surely. And they'd talk about their boyfriends, oh surely, yeah.

KIDS: [laughter] Could you use the telephone like now, like if you needed to call your mom if you were sick can you use the telephone or…?

BERLIN: I'd guess you could go to the office and ask if you… most of the time I taught we didn't have a school nurse, however

KIDS: You didn't?

BERLIN: No, nuh-huh. It's very nice to have one, but that we didn't.

KIDS: Did you ever have maybe a dentist come here to the school to check on the children to make sure they didn't have [Inaudible]

BERLIN: I think probably we did that, uh-huh. Especially, I think, maybe in the grammar school.

KIDS: Oh, that's good [inaudible] When you gave out grades, did you have report cards?

BERLIN: Oh yes.

KIDS: Were the grades the same as they are now? A-

BERLIN: B, C, uh-huh, right, uh-huh, uh-huh. 

KIDS: Have them on sheets of paper or were they on like cardboard?

BERLIN: They were on sheets of paper. And, of course, we didn't have computers.

KIDS: Ah, so you wrote them down?

BERLIN: Right, right, right, right

KIDS: Like if the class got done before it was supposed to, did you ever have any games like all around the world like they do. Two people would stand in a chair and then try to guess the answer before anyone else, get the right answer, and go on?

BERLIN: Something like that, uh-huh. To keep these- right, right. 

KIDS: Oh, did they have, like, if you would talk back or something or if you were not paying attention did they give you conduct marks or demerits or something?

BERLIN: You could if you wanted to, uh-huh, uh-huh. In high school we didn't ever have a deportment or conduct mark.

KIDS: Did they ever have social suspension or get kicked out of school?

BERLIN: Oh yeah, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.

KIDS: Were a lot of kids done?

BERLIN: Oh, surely yes, uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: Did you have a lot of kids in your class when you did that?

BERLIN: No, no.

KIDS: Well, that's good.

BERLIN: Right, right, right.

KIDS: [inaudible, laughter] When you gave out grades, did they have only one teacher for every single class, or did they have different teachers for every class? Like were you the same teacher for math and English and reading?

BERLIN: Oh, well at high school, and even when I was going to school here, we from the sixth grade on we had a different teacher for every class. Just as you people do.

KIDS: Could you tell me briefly about your family? [Inaudible]

BERLIN: No, I've been, just this last week I've been looking over some old letters. My family- my mother's family moved here in 1905, and my dad came about the same year. And they came in when people were taking up the farms, when the reclamation project opened.

KIDS: Did you have a large family?

BERLIN: No, I had one brother.

KIDS: One brother?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: That's what I have! [laughter] how about your parents? Did you have a lot of grandparents and aunts and uncles?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, yeah, well, I lived- my grandparents lived with us all my life.

KIDS: They do?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, uh-huh. Which is lovely, because you have lots of people to read to you and take care of you, right.

KIDS: If one person goes there's always someone else.

BERLIN: Right, right.

KIDS: Could you tell us any more about your family? And if anything funny happened?

BERLIN: Well, I think one thing that it's hard for you people to realize, when we were kids we lived right in our own little neighborhood.

KIDS: Mm-hmm

BERLIN: Like we played with the Jones [?] kids because they were our neighbors, and the way you people travel we didn't travel at all. No, we'd come to school on the bus and go home and that was it, you know?

KIDS: Did you move a lot?

BERLIN: No, I've lived in the same house all my life.

KIDS: Hmm.

BERLIN: I'm never moving.

KIDS: When you were in school, What kinds of [inaudible] would you go get?

BERLIN: Just about the same. Just about the same.

KIDS: What was the most popular way the children wore their hair when they were in school at our age?

BERLIN: When we were your age, now this isn't when I was teaching, the girls had their hair cut bangs and then down here and short.

KIDS: So it was short cut?

BERLIN: Short cut, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: Oh, that's really neat!

BERLIN: Very becoming, when I look back now.

KIDS: What was the boys' cut?

BERLIN: One way the boys used to wear their hair, they had it cut very short. And then they made little caps out of their mothers' destroyed stockings [End of tape 1]

BERLIN: How do the kids treat the substitute teachers?

KIDS: Now?

BERLIN: Uh-huh

KIDS: Well, they usually talk a lot.

BERLIN: Uh-uh, pretty bad, huh?

KIDS: And they expect us to sit in a special place-

BERLIN: You move to another seat, right, uh-huh

KIDS: Did they do that to you when you taught?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, and if you're arranged alphabetically then you change seats and answer for somebody else.

KIDS: Like when they're taking roll call and somebody says "here" for you?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, uh-huh, correct. Uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: Did any of the children sleep?

BERLIN: Yes.

KIDS: [laughter]

BERLIN: Yes, I have a friend whose name is Janice Palludan, and one day a substitute teacher came into her class and the little girl behind her said "Who's that old bag?" and Janice said "That old bag is my mother!"

KIDS: How rude! Oh my gosh!

BERLIN: So you'd better be careful! You never know who the substitute teacher is. And substitute teaching is the hardest of all teaching.

KIDS: It is?

BERLIN: Well of course! Because you don't- Well, if you know the kids, you know, you have a chance. Of course, after you substitute a while you know who the bad kids are.

KIDS: Substituting did any children tell you- Like on a piece of paper from the teacher, did you have a piece of paper to tell you what you should do? 

BERLIN: The kids?

KIDS: No, the teacher.

BERLIN: Oh yes, yes. Yeah, if the teacher leaves directions then it's alright, but if she doesn't you're in trouble.

KIDS: What if you were supposed to have like a special paper and the children… you know you're supposed to correct anything they're not supposed to do? What do you do then?

BERLIN: Well I'd probably correct it because I would know, but if I were a beginning substitute, then I don't know.

KIDS: Hmm… what… Okay, we have math and spelling and reading and stuff. What kind of classes did you have?

BERLIN: Exactly the same thing. Really and truly it's amazing how little it's changed.

KIDS: The little bit that's changed, do you like it now or better then?

BERLIN: Probably it's better because we're tending to give people who aren't interested in academic things, we're tending to give them a little more practical things. 

KIDS: And music, you had music?

BERLIN: Yes, uh-huh.

KIDS: Did you usually study what you know of, the historic type music or now?

BERLIN: No, no, no. I think it was singing and…

KIDS: Oh! [inaudible, short section back and forth with overtalk] Since you've been a teacher, you taught all the classes since then or…?

BERLIN: No. No, I was in high school almost all the time.

KIDS: And you taught what classes?

BERLIN: Oh yes, I taught everybody.

KIDS: Okay. When you were sick, did you usually have a special substitute that you wanted?

BERLIN: Yes, absolutely. Yes. Well, we tried to, but of course there aren't… you know, sometimes that substitute would be working for somebody else.

KIDS: Were there reasons why you would pick that special substitute?

BERLIN: Oh, surely. Because she could handle the kids. Kept good discipline, yes.

KIDS: When substitutes were there, did they usually write their names on the board? And then what would you do if they were bad?

BERLIN: Oh, you mean what would I do? I'd be mad.

KIDS:  What kind of things would they do to you?

BERLIN: Oh, I can't remember.

KIDS: When you were in school, what kinds of tricks would you play on the teachers? Or did you go in on any of them?

BERLIN: Oh, I'm sure we did.

KIDS: Do you remember any?

BERLIN: No. I wouldn't tell you those secrets anyhow. [laughter] Then you might play them on Mr. Hansen!

KIDS: [Laughter] was there any stealing?

BERLIN: Yes. Unfortunately, yes.

KIDS: Like books or…?

BERLIN: And money out of lockers.

KIDS: Did anybody ever take things from a teachers' desks? Like if they weren't there for a while, just go in their desk.

BERLIN: Yes, yes, yes, uh-huh, uh-huh.

KIDS: What did you do to them if you found out?

BERLIN: Well I don't think they- Unfortunately usually they were never caught. Once in a while I remember we had one principal who used to put some dye on money that would show up, or something like that. But unfortunately – And another unfortunate thing, no matter how many times you tell students not to leave money in their lockers they still do.

KIDS: Like now they have tape recorders and stuff that they leave in school and stuff. Did any kids bring stuff like that?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, that they shouldn't have brought, and then its stolen, and then you feel terrible? Yes.

KIDS: What were the popular songs?

BERLIN: You know, I can't remember. It's too long a period to remember. I'd have to look back over each year, so I really can't tell you.

KIDS: Do you remember if they were [inaudible]?

BERLIN: Well, that's what I mean. It's too hard for me, you know I can't quite remember.

KIDS: When the children were taught, and children were in school, what did they mostly do at recess time?

BERLIN: Well, in high school, see, we didn't have recess.

KIDS: Well, in between-

BERLIN: But at noon, they did just what they like to do now. They dragged Maine and they'd walk – if you didn't have a car you'd walk downtown. And one problem, you people have a hot lunch here. You see, in high school there never was a hot lunch.

KIDS: They had to bring their own?

BERLIN: Uh-huh. And all the time I was in school we brought our lunch. Always. Always.

KIDS: What did they do if you didn't bring your lunch, or was that okay? Like if you didn't bring a cold lunch or something what did they do? Did they give you part of their lunch or did you eat at all?

BERLIN: Oh, I imagine you'd have a friend who'd give you some. I don't know, I don't- I'm sure that someone would.

KIDS: Did you have any trouble with kids only bringing candy to eat?

BERLIN: For lunch?

KIDS: Yeah. Or eating in class.

BERLIN: Oh, I didn't ever let kids eat in class. I think it's impolite. If everybody has a candy bar, that's fine, but I don't like to see one student eating and not everybody else.

KIDS: For their birthday each year, did the children whose birthday it was, did they ever bring cupcakes for the whole class?

BERLIN: Uh-huh, uh-huh. I think that's fine.

KIDS: Nowadays they don't… here in Nevada they don't do it themselves, do they? They did in Austin.

BERLIN: I think they- Did you live in Austin?

KIDS: Austin, Minnesota.

BERLIN: Oh, I thought you meant Austin, Nevada. [Laughter, overtalk] You're used to these bad winters then, aren't you?

KIDS: Uh-huh. I'm… [inaudible] I'm not really used to the weather here and I get homesick a lot.

BERLIN: Okay.

KIDS: Thank you, Mrs. Berlin for coming.

BERLIN: It was a pleasure! It was a pleasure.

KIDS: Thank you very much!

BERLIN: If there's anything you were supposed to ask me that you didn't you can call me, how about that?

KIDS: Okay

 

Interviewer

Unknown Children

Interviewee

Anne Gibbs Berlin

Comments

Files

berlin.png
Anne Gibbs Berlin 1982 transcripts.docx
Berlin, Anne Gibs 1982 interview.mp3

Citation

“Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1982,” Churchill County Museum Digital Archive: Fallon, Nevada, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ccmuseum.omeka.net/items/show/654.