My school was old style colonial, hence based on a military model of organisation. This was very different from nursery school where we were expected to “play” as if spontaneously — and yet guided away (if female) from toys considered to be “for boys”. This actually happened to me. I wanted to play with some coloured blocks and was told I couldn’t, but must go and play with a bunch of girls I didn’t know, who were playing “house” on a mattress near a window. The teacher said, “This is Jenny and she will join you.” The kids asked me what I wanted to “be” and I had no idea what that meant. I felt I had to play at knowing what I didn’t know and what I had no interest in knowing.
But, primary school had a very military type of order. We pretty much marched in single file between classes and learned to behave in a rather disciplined way. This sense of order stopped at the playground, which was literally chaotic. For instance, we had a grade one and a grade two slide and one was steeper than the other. In both cases, the boys and girls would jostle to form a very crude line and then three or four kids would go down the slide together. It was really what we called “rough”.
STAY SANE AND SAVAGE Gender activism, intellectual shamanism
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