Life in a Prep School

The recent talk about Kavanaugh and the culture associated with Yale and Prep Schools has me recalling my connections to the culture. In 1967,entering 7th grade,I was accepted and received a partial scholarship to attend Kingswood School in West Hartford Connecticut. Kingswood was considered to be one of the most prestigious prep schools in Connecticut,and a high percentage of its graduates went on to attend the Ivy League Colleges such as Yale,Harvard,or Dartmouth. It was an all boys prep school. It is now known as Kingswood-Oxford School having merged with an all girls prep school

Mom was excited about my acceptance.Not only would a successful career at Kingswood virtually assure me of academic prosperity after graduation,but attending Kingswood were the offspring of some of Connecticut's most prominent families. In Mom's eyes,rubbing shoulders with some of Connecticut's elite would put me in with the "Old Boys Club" and I would be set for life. Mom was an educational activist who fought for better conditions in the Hartford Public school system,but wasn't going to sacrifice her children while waiting for its improvement. I was also constantly threatened and teased while in public school and my Mom hoped that in a more stringent academic envionment that the teasing would stop.

In anticipation of the different academic,cultural,and social scene I would encounter at Kingswood,when our family took our annual Washington DC trip to be with my grandparents,Mom enrolled me in the summer program at St.Albans Prep in Washington. St. Albans' most famous graduate is Al Gore and St Albans primary athletic rivalry is with none other than Kavanaugh's Georgetown Prep.

I didn't like St Albans and my year at Kingswood was the worst year I ever experienced in school.

Academically,I did struggle. I always had problems with Math,but at Kingswood,I was under the added pressure of possible expulsion for failing at any subject. In Elementary School,being a great student was a buffer from the threatening and teasing I had gotten. Now that buffer was gone.

While in Elementary School,I was teased for such things as being a bookworm,being a terrible athlete,and not being up on the latest dance being shown on Soul Train. At Kingswood,being a bad athlete was the least of my hassles,in fact if I had been a decent athlete, teasing may have ceased as it seemed like at a school with few black students,the ones who were good athletes were protected and even placed on a pedestal.
There was a particular type of meanness behind my teasing at Kingswood. Kids would talk to me using their best Amos and Andy impressions. Once had a kid flash a dollar bill in front of me asking if I had ever seen one before. It was assumed that I had a switchblade. We were required to wear ties at Kingswood. I was not good at tying ties,so I had a collection of clip on ties. It was a regular between class occurance that my tie would be ripped off me and tossed around amongst various classmates.

I hated my time at Kingswood,but was also aware of how much it meant to my Mom,so I tried to hang in there. It came down to if I passed my Math Final,I would be allowed to stay a second year. I remember studying and attempting to do my best but during a break while taking the exam,kids took my tie and tossed it around again. When I came across a tough portion of the Final,I concluded that passing the exam wasnt worth the hassles,so I turned in the unfinished final,flunked and was kicked out.
I remember Mom being in tears upon being informed I was being kicked out and although I later found both academic and social success at a less prestigeous prep school,I lived under the "Why couldn't you have done this at Kingswood?" bit for years afterwards.

2 years after I got kicked out,my brother Howie was kicked out for making a bomb threat. He was protesting Kingswood's exchange program with a prep school in Apartheid South Africa.

I cant imagine life at Kavanaugh's Georgetown Prep being much different than that at Kingswood..