Innocence Lost

By ROBERT V ANGEL-LITTLE

Innocence Lost sweeps the reader up into the adventures of a boy who, from an unknown entity, manages to become his junior high's supreme leader, followed by a small transitional period of limited conflicts with the regime's Secret Service and culminates with the struggles of freedom out into the streets of Bucharest Romania in late December 1989. The book describes in detail every single thing that the author has experienced during the last six years of socialism of one of the most brutal dictatorships in Eastern Europe. Every aspect of schooling, education, military training, battlegrounds, and personal private life of the author has been described in order to let the readers know what could happen or could have happened if they were to live in socialism. The book also describes Romania's history, economics, cultural, and social life along with some of the author's favorite vacation spots. Robert V. Angel-Little gets elected to lead the masses of pioneers (students) and works tirelessly to consolidate his position not only as a feared leader, but also as a trustworthy person within his community. After he resigns his duties as junior high leader, he enrolls into the country's National Guard program and takes his admission tests at the high school of his choice. At both institutions, he comes into an open conflict with the elite forces of the Secret Service, who plays its part similarly to Nazi Germany's state police, the Gestapo. As both good and unfortunate events take their courses, the author and his friends manage to survive both institutions at great costs: the disappearances of some friends and also expulsions from both institutions. The latter, along with all the other mishaps that took place in the past, has been the trigger point of revenge of both the author and his friends which culminates with their actions during the late December 1989 Romanian Revolution. Innocence Lost is a boy's testament to the world and is dedicated to all those who have lived and died fighting for freedoms from the clutches of socialist and communist oppression.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647018870

Book preview

CHAPTER I

A Brief Description Of School Number 100

Just like any other public school from Bucharest, School Number 100 was built and put into action circa 1950. Built with bricks and reinforced concrete, the school was like a real fortress. Since then and up until the 1980s, it had grown not only in size but also in area. I was told that around 1950, the school was used as an orphanage for many of the children whose parents passed away during World War II. At that time, it had only two levels but after the 1960s an extra level was built.

The school’s shape was in a large squared C. Each side of the school was one hundred meters long and twenty-five meters wide. When the extra level was completed the school stood at almost forty-five meters high. There were windows on both facades. Most of the classes had three window views, others only two and a few more, only one.

The classes themselves were twenty-five meters long, seven meters wide, and close to three meters high. Facing the main wall of the classroom was the blackboard at five meters long and two meters tall. Each classroom had only one entrance door. The students for the most part were sitting on immobile seats attached to a desk that had a small compartment between the students’ knees and top desk to use for their personal belongings like books, notebooks, and purses or school bags. Some classrooms had individual chairs, but the majority had three rows of benches. A row of seven benches was along the windows. A row of six benches was running through the middle of the class. Another row of seven benches along the wall completed the total of twenty, each with two seats. By doing the math, the readers would acknowledge the fact that there were forty students per each class.

A big portrait of the country’s leader, Nikolai Ceausescu, was placed on the main wall right above the blackboard; and it could be found in every room of the school except in the Gymnastics Hall. The teacher had his or her cathedra or teacher’s desk on a raised podium between the blackboard and the front rows of student seats right underneath the portrait of our country’s leader. The raised podium gave the teacher the advantage of seeing every single student all the way to the back of the classroom.

A cupboard filled with school requisites like notebooks, pencils, pens, blue ink, red ink, maps, chalks, sponges, some books, and a first-aid kit was usually placed between one of the windows and the teacher’s desk. Completing the decor of each classroom were lots of potted plants placed near the windows, a built-in wall hooks hanger as long as twenty meters where the students could put their jackets and other clothing accessories and a garbage can with a broomstick and a dust pan.

Besides classrooms, there were also a few laboratories for physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology and photography departments. The last one was built inside a classroom in 1985, and its classes were only supplementary, either for the knowledge of it or extra credits. On the second level located between the physics laboratory and girls’ toilets was the dental office. On the third level located between the chemistry laboratory and girls’ toilets was the medical office.

The school’s chancellery (the school’s main room) and the director’s office were located on the lowest level of the building on its south side. In order to get into the director’s office, one had to go through the chancellery since there was only one entrance door. The school’s treasury office was also attached to the chancellery by an inside door. The chancellery, the director’s office, and the physical education office were the only rooms that had as part of its décor the country’s national flag. For a long time I thought that going through the chancellery entrance was the only way inside the treasury. Later I found out that a secret passageway coming from the basement would lead exactly into the cabinets that held all the school’s accounts and money.

Two gates made of enforced steel accompanied by an iron fence at two meters tall surrounded the compound. The school’s square was very big. It was almost seventy-five meters by seventy-five meters. In its center was the flag pole, as high as fifty meters. Romania’s national flag, the Tricolor (red, yellow, and blue) was raised every day under a military-like ceremony. The flag itself was replaced at the beginning of each school year with a new one. Sometimes, the red flag of the Communist Party was added underneath the national flag for special occasions, like May Day, Independence Day, Republic’s Day, and for special school festivities. The ceremonial of raising the flag every day was done for the most part at twelve noon while those gathered in the school’s square, saluted and sang Three Colors, Romania’s national anthem, which was established by the government in 1974 and lasted until 1989.

Opposite the main entrance into the school, at the square’s western side, was the Gymnastics Hall and amphitheatre, which by 1980 could easily accommodate more than three thousand people. This building was added during the latter part of the 1960s. It was thirty meters tall at its highest point, one hundred meters long, and fifty meters wide. It once had a cinema, but it was turned into an amphitheater by the mid-1970s. Basketball, volleyball, and handball games were held inside the Gymnastics Hall. Near the hall was the office of the Physical Education Department, which was also the official office location of the commander in chief. Here, he or she was able to hold his or her meetings with the other school commanders and other important personnel. Even though the room was small, it could accommodate at least 250 persons who could sit comfortably at the long oak-made table.

At the northern side of the school was the soccer field as long as eighty meters and forty meters wide. Here were held the school’s soccer and rugby matches and track and field events. There were no parking lots. Most of the teachers were living in nearby areas and were commuting by bus, tramcars, trolleybus, and sometimes by taxi. When some delegations were coming to inspect the school, they were able to park onto the soccer field passing through the students’ main entrance gate. The other gate was used mainly by the teachers, other faculty, and staff. The northern extremity of the soccer field was flanked by residential houses.

The western side of the soccer field was enclosed by a concrete wall as high as three meters tall. The eastern side of the field was flanked by a public street. An alley built between the soccer field and the school itself made the connections of the gate entrance with the school’s square. It was one hundred meters long and ten meters wide. The eastern side of the school was flanked by a long line of trees, mostly poplars, cherry trees, wild apples, a few oaks, and maples. Roses and carnations were planted as well.

Like any other school with vegetation around it, there was some fauna comprised mostly of small rodents like mice, rats, squirrels, a few feral cats, and birds. At some point in time, students were able to find moles, hedgehogs, and the common nonvenomous garden snake. In the spring of 1986, I found out that an owl, a hawk, and a falcon made their nests on top of the school’s roof.

At some point in the past, the school had several containers for recycles but were later removed when some of the basement rooms and built-in depots were used to stack old iron, paper, glass, plastics, and other recyclables.

This is how School Number 100 looked like by the time I graduated from it in the summer of 1988. Some other schools had different sizes and shapes, but mine was, as a lot of people used to say, in the most basic form that a junior high should look like.

I hope that the readers found this school description educational and entertaining since I believe it is necessary to describe in detail how everything was. Now, with the readers’ permission, I’d like to introduce them to how the school system really was and how different it was from their own.

CHAPTER II

The Order Of The Pioneers

The Order of Pioneers started some time ago in the 1920s Soviet Union and continued ever since then in every country where socialism spread its tentacles. Today, only a few countries still have this code, like Cuba, China, and North Korea.

But for the uninitiated, what does a pioneer mean? Well, is not exactly like the ordinary American person would think that a pioneer is a person who is exploring a new land, like a gold prospector or a land surveyor or anything of the sort. No. A pioneer in the Romanian society of 1984 was actually a pupil or student that was in the primary school or junior high (grades 1 to 8).

A pioneer was a uniformed student, in my case at the time I was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with long black pants, a white Basque as a hat with the country’s coat of arms insignia attached to the front and of course the red tie, emblazoned on one edge with the country’s national colors—blue, yellow, and red. Other countries from around the Iron Curtain were dressing their pioneers similarly and with their red ties emblazoned with their own national colors. The boys’ haircut had to be very short, something like a size two or three. Of course, bald-headed was very much accepted. The boys’ uniform was completed by a dark-colored blazer and black shoes covering either white or black socks.

The blazer had on its left shoulder a patch called matricula (ma-tree-coup-la) with the number or name of the school and a serial number. This serial number was placed in order to identify the student but had its uses, for example: if the person was doing stupid things in public or during school breaks (obscene gestures, swearing, fights), teachers or commanders were to remember the number and tell the director or the educator in charge of the student to be reprimanded. All the matricula numbers were kept in the school’s archives. The numbers started usually from the first class of first grade beginning with the very first person’s last name. Coincidentally, when I started first grade, my matricula number was 1 because I was the first in my class given by my last name Angel-Little. There were no other people ahead of me as far as last names to start with letter A in my class. I wore that number from Monday, September 15, 1980, until I graduated from junior high on Sunday, June 12, 1988.

The girls’ uniform was a little bit different. Apart from the long-sleeved shirt and red tie, they had to wear either black or dark blue skirts to go over their knees, white socks, shoes either white or black and of course, like in many cases, they had to wear white ribbons or bandanas for keeping the hair from getting out of control. The girls had to sow their matricula either directly on the left shoulder side of their shirts and on their coats. Both boys and girls were wearing a belt made out of synthetic leather, which was emblazoned at the lock with an insignia resembling Romania’s coat of arms.

This was the uniform code that every pupil or student put on since the second grade until the end of the eighth grade. There were no exceptions. The uniform was regarded mandatory, and it was the pioneer’s duty to maintain it clean, neat, and respect it.

CHAPTER III

The Election Of 1984

In 1984, every country had its own code of who were to be the leaders of the pioneers. The school principal or director, the vice principal or vice director, the faculty, and some elite students were in charge of deciding who will be the next in line to continue the tradition. If you ask me, and I’m sure you would, what do I mean by who will be in charge?

Well, our educational system was based on that of the military structure. There were commanders of groups, or one over ten students, commanders of battalion, or one over forty students (this was the maximum number for a class), commanders of company, or one over five classes, commanders of division, or two over forty classes and of course commander in chief or unit commander (the school was considered a unit) and subcommanders: liaison and vice commander in chief. If you do the math, you can imagine how big the list was.

Grades, behavior, appearance, propaganda followers, and popularity were the main criteria used for the election. Nearly everyone on the list had made contributions to his or her name in the abovementioned criteria, but not many were to be considered for whatever position they wanted. Why? Well, just like in any society, there is always someone who has someone up there to put in a good word for them but not many seemed to actually get it.

In order to ensure that no such favoritism was to take place, the organizers of the Election were charged to make lists not only from the mentioned criteria, but also from primary elections that were held previously a year or two before. That is how I came to be nominated since I knew for sure that I did not belong among the elites. My name came out a year before this event from one of the ballots regarding propaganda, popularity, good conduct, and appearance; but my grades were way below compared to some straight As students, and I was considered this time because as they said I was coming of age.

As far as I was concerned, I was a child like all others around me, trying to be all that I wanted to be while I was playing, studying, or whatever else I was doing at that age. It was true about me that I was very shrewd, quiet (except on the soccer field), a shy, timid-looking boy, at least in the eyes of most of the people. No one ever heard me use profanity or get into fights like others. I had many good friends among boys and girls, and I was happy to hold onto them. I was ambitious only on the soccer field and in some subjects in school like history, geography, and music. As for the rest of the subjects, I was trying to keep up the good work, even with math which I detested and still hate today.

Among other achievements, I was good in chess, ping-pong, fencing, for which I won the school championships for three years in a row in all three disciplines from second grade all the way to the end of fourth grade, and I was showing good performances in track and field, volleyball, basketball, rugby, baseball, sleigh (skeleton), and of course, soccer.

All those who knew me can tell you that I was a horrible painter, my calligraphy was terrible, drawing was a problem, but I had a skill unmatched by any, not even the girls: sewing or embroidering. While all the boys were doing woodworks or metalworks, I was inclined more toward making handkerchiefs and scarves. Even the girls were laughing. My mother was and still is a master in tailoring, sewing, and embroidering and so I learned from her something quite useful from the feminine trades.

On the day of that election, my name came out again of the ballots, and me and my close classmates were perplexed. It was very obvious that all of us, including myself, were very surprised about it. It was of course a nice thing to be considered among the best but who in the whole world would nominate me for any of the positions? The answer was simple.

The leaflets that were distributed throughout the school showed the names of all the nominees and their achievements up to that point. I looked at my name and next to it was written the following: great sportsmanship and fair play, impenetrable conduct, impeccable appearance, great aptitudes for school subjects, great choir voice, and astonishing propaganda writer.

Of all the abovementioned, astonishing propaganda writer seemed too much. I remember that I did write a pamphlet when I was eight years old in regard as how the society should be (I remember that my father helped me with it) but of course in my mind it was just some extra work I had to turn in for my calligraphy class in third grade. And as for great aptitudes for school subjects, everyone knew what I was good at and pretty messy in the rest.

No one in their right mind (I thought) would consider me for any of the commander positions. I had no people skills whatsoever, my mind was racing, but I had no control over it sometimes. I was good at answering and replying quite faster than a lot of people when I was confronted but still I didn’t think I was ready for this. As it turned out, I could not protest or refuse. To choose to refuse a position among the elite students was a problem and at the same time the punishment could have been extremely severe. The faculty considered me to enter the lists of the election and this decision was final. Of course, everyone was waiting for the verdicts, which after a short while came out.

The director came out and spoke to the microphone:

Will the following pioneers come forward and enter the school’s chancellery please, and she began calling her lists. One by one, the called pioneers went in and when I heard my name called, my heart sank into my stomach. I went inside and waited for the director to come after us. Outside, everyone cheered, whistled, and applauded.

While in the chancellery, or the main room of the school, those who were selected as the new commanders of groups were waiting to cast their votes for their superior commanders. Next to me, one boy who was towering me asked me in a whisper, Aren’t you among the group leaders?

No, I don’t even know why I am here.

Then the vice director pulled out the votes and began calling the names of those who were to be commanders of battalion, company, and division. My name was not even mentioned, and I began to suspect that somebody probably made either a mistake or a joke, but as it turned out, the prime director finally said this: We now have three pioneers left for the last three positions: liaison commander, vice commander in chief, and commander in chief. The following persons should come forward: Stoic Ana Mikaela, Grasshopper Michael George, and Angel-Little Robert.

Then the director added, You three will be voted by the entire school in the last ballot. None of you are to show yourselves inside the school square until the voting is over and your names will be called out. The one with 51% of the votes will be declared winner. If there is a need for a run-off, that is if none of you will receive 51%, then the voting will be decided by your future subcommanders who are casting their votes right now here. Their votes will be counted in case there is a need for a run-off. Good luck. All three of us saluted her and said, Thank you, Comrade Director.

So for the next couple of hours, the entire school was put to vote for their top leaders. As far as the other two, I knew George was an athlete and good orator while Mikaela was a very serious straight A student. She held the commander of battalion rank in her class in the previous three years. She was popular and very likely everyone would vote her for commander in chief. Both of them were the same age as I. I was hoping for the second highest position since I knew it will not ask for too much from my part. The liaison position was the one to avoid for sure. There were many duties to be taken care of and I knew I couldn’t handle it.

As it turned out, there was a run-off, and all of us were shocked: George gathered 33% of the votes, I managed to receive 33% as well, while Mikaela thought that her 34% would put her right on top, but as the director said, we had to wait for our future sub-commanders’ decision. These included ninety-six group commanders, twenty-four battalion commanders, six company commanders, two division commanders. One hundred and twenty-eight votes divided into three and none could have gathered 51% for sure, but the director said this, If none of you get 51%, then whoever gets the lowest percentage will become vice commander in chief. After that there will be another run-off for the remainder of the two positions in which one hundred and twenty-eight plus one will vote for them. The one with more votes will be commander in chief, while the other will be liaison.

As the votes were counted, I was keeping my fingers crossed to be last. Unfortunately, the loser was George.

CHAPTER IV

Commander In Chief

It took another hour to decide and of course everyone outside was waiting desperately for the news. Finally, at exactly 3:30 PM on June 1, 1984, the school alarm siren was rang for three minutes to make sure everyone in the school square was taking their positions in a perfect alignment. In all, three thousand pioneers. Then the commanders of the groups, battalions, companies, and divisions came out and took their places in front of their groups. Then the faculty emerged along with the vice director who took the podium and said in the microphone, School Number 100 has finally decided on its last commanders. The position for the vice commander in chief is George Michael Grasshopper.

And while the square was applauding, George came out with the navy-blue ribbon hanging on his left side of the chest. Then the vice director called again, The position for the liaison commander is Mikaela Ana Stoic.

Again ovations and applause from everyone in the square while Mikaela came out with the dark-blue ribbon hanging on her left side of the chest. Then the director came out, went to the podium, and said, School Number 100, put your hands in salute for our new commander in chief, Robert Valerio Angel-Little.

And then I came out with a white ribbon hanging on my left side of the chest, pink cheeks, and my heart as small as a nut. I went to the podium, saluted the director who saluted me back, and then faced the square. I looked at them for a few moments, saluted, and then said clearly into the microphone, GOOD AFTERNOON, PIONEERS!

More than three thousand people gathered there said in one powerful thunderous voice: LONG LIVE COMRADE COMMANDER!

Then I took off my salute and said, At ease.

Everyone’s hands came down and waited for my word. My speech wasn’t long, but I managed to tell them the following:

I want to give thanks for those who nominated me for this position and everyone for their support toward me. I need to emphasize that this position in which you have elected me is not an easy one, and I hope no one will envy me for it. The road ahead is hard, and I will surely need all of your help in order to keep the tradition of the Order of Pioneers go on forward like our forbearers before us did it with success and abnegation. I solemnly swear to abide by the Code Rules of the Order of Pioneers and I sure hope that all my subordinates will help me take care of the most essential and most important issues with which we have to deal every day. Please, keep in mind the fact that I will try to do my best to conduct everything within the legal code of my powers for this institution of education. I will need your help in order to ensure order, discipline, and an iron will of conduct to the last pioneer. Starting September 15, 1984, there will be regulations and rules for which I want to make sure that all of you will abide by. Misconduct and any other mishaps from the Code will be severely punished, so be warned. I will not tolerate the use of profanity, obscene gestures, misconduct toward your own commanders, teachers, parents, and other civilians. If you have any questions, you will put them in writing toward your own commanders, which in turn will tell me in our meetings. Pioneers, a new and hard road is ahead of us. I need all of you to keep in mind everything I said today. Thank you for your support, enjoy your summer vacation, and I will see you again on September 15. Good day to you all.

Then all said again, LONG LIVE COMRADE COMMANDER! and everyone applauded.

Of course, many of you may have some questions for me. What happened? Well, out of 129 votes I needed at least sixty-five votes, which I gathered since the director made it clear that if anyone is trying to sustain from voting (a measure used in the past) she will be the one to declare who will be who. In this election, no pioneers from second, third, and fourth grades participated. Their leaders were all their educators who were answering in the beginning to the school director and later on to the liaison.

The director liked both me and Mikaela, but she also knew our capabilities. She thought it was time for a male commander in chief since the previous three were girls. As far as Mikaela, she was teary-eyed when she was selected as liaison and said that she accepted the defeat and her new rank without any remorse.

Now you might ask what the ribbon was all about. Every commander had its own color to be distinguished from all others. The group commanders’ color was blood-red. The battalion commanders’ color was golden yellow. The company commanders’ color was orange. The division commanders’ was black. The ribbons were all the same in form, only the color made the difference. It was made out of cotton, almost a foot long but similar to what some generals wear today on their chests apart from the medals. It had two acorns attached to it, hanging at some point, also made of cotton. The long-sleeved shirts were specifically made for the purpose of the ribbons, so the commanders could attach it easily to the buttons, one on the shoulder and the other on the left chest pocket.

Besides the ribbon, some commanders were wearing medals, insignias, and other honors. Starting in 1974 the four highest honors to be worn by a pioneer were the Order of the Pioneers Medal for Outstanding Achievements, the Medal of Honor for Civilian Affairs, the Order Hammer and Sickle, and Order of Lenin Third Class, which was rarely given to a pioneer. In my four years as commander in chief, I managed all four of them. Mikaela was due for the Order of Lenin, post-mortem, which was given to her family a few days before eighth grade was over in June 1988. The Order Hammer and Sickle and the Order of Lenin were two of the highest awards of the state usually given to people who achieved remarkable feats. At that time, only a few people were proud to have these orders on their chests, among them the country’s leader, Nikolai Ceausescu.

As far as what have I felt when the votes came out? I was stunned just as well as everyone else. Everyone knew I have not achieved anything that important up to that point in comparison with others. My parents were not Communist Party members. My comments were, There’s got to be a mistake. Why me? Who am I to become this? On what grounds is anyone hoping that I will be able to do whatever is necessary?

The director said, You have nothing to fear, all of us will help you for the tasks ahead. Here, take the Code of the Pioneers, read it over the summer and learn it. And then in a small whisper she said: I am sure that your good memory will be able to help you through it.

And there it was. Somebody (I found out later it was my older brother) slipped the fact to her that I actually do have a gift: my good memory with which I was born with. This had to be the answer besides all my other so-called achievements because as I suspected, they needed people who can remember quite a lot of things. What sort of things? Well, I thought mostly reports, notes, and other paperwork. I was only half right.

This election into the post of commander in chief was only the beginning to four years of unrealistic and unprecedented things that the ordinary American citizen will never be able to comprehend unless a few of them had studied the socialist doctrines.

When I got home that evening, I was teased something funny by most of my friends. I told them to wait for me to get dressed into play clothes and they waited for me. After a few minutes, I took off my school clothes and put on my soccer outfit. Went out and my friends were like, Here comes the commander in chief, everyone hands up.

I was smiling, but I responded to their salute and said, If you guys don’t stop joking about this, by the time school starts again, I will eat you all for lunch.

One of them said, Oh, oh, now we’re really in deep boo-boo.

Another one added, Is a good thing his twin brother wasn’t elected as vice commander, who knows what we had to put up with then, double action and more punishments.

We all laughed hard and I said, Starting next year, Victor (my twin brother) will be going to School Number 99.

When they asked why, I answered, He and I had an altercation again, and he said he will not accept me as his superior, so I told him he is free to leave any time he wants. So he said that he will be at School Number 99 starting in September and will be living with our grandparents from mom’s side of the family. I am sure he will have a good time at that school, most of the neighborhood misfits go there and as he is always bound for destruction, he will get whatever he is looking for. I will be very much surprised if he will want to come back.

One of my closest friends said, I don’t get you two. You seemed to be on good terms up until a few months ago, and now you’re already with daggers drawn at each other. What do your parents say about it?

They don’t like it of course, but what can they do? As far as I am concerned, I should do with some change within my room, not that he is messy, but it will be good to have just my own room for a change. Julian (my oldest brother) is going to be thrilled. He won’t have to deal with the two of us together. Anyway, let’s start a game before it gets really dark. And with that, the subject was closed.

None of my friends knew what was in store for them when the new school year would start in September. Before I left the school, I looked a little bit into the booklet of the Codes of Conduct of the Pioneers that the director gave me. I still remember to this day many of the rules and regulations written in there. For any American, I can really say that it was about some of the most stringent rules that children had to put up with in order to keep them under serious discipline. So I thought that if the system wants me to be serious and hard core, I will do everything in my mind and abilities to make it so.

CHAPTER V

A Description Of The Class System, Physical Education And Athletic Events

In order to understand how the system worked, grades one through four were studying in the morning from 7:30 AM or 8:00 AM until 11:30 AM or 12:00 PM Monday through Saturday. Then those of fifth through eighth grade would come in and would finish at various times like 5:00–6:00 PM or the latest at 7:00 PM. Saturday classes usually were over by 4:00 PM. Sunday, of course, was an off day for classes, but sometimes it could have been used for some extracurricular activities, including the commander in chief’s meetings.

I and my generation of students, who were getting into fifth grade starting September 15, 1984, were going through some changes. From first to fourth grades we had only one teacher, a female educator, who tried to do her best to educate us well. Starting with fifth grade, we were going to have to deal with a lot more than one teacher since every day we had a different kind of schedule. Good-bye to only four classes (periods) every day and welcome to three, four, five, six, and sometimes even seven classes per day. On top of everything else, we had to go to a different school to learn advanced trades of wood work and metal work (I had to give up on sewing handkerchiefs). Going to a different school other than ours to learn these trades meant going into public and use public transportation. We had to watch our steps and make sure we would not get into trouble or do stupid things. The matricula was there for a reason. It was the substitute for what Americans call identification card.

Our curriculum system compared to that of the United States, I have to say, was far more advanced. And of course we had to make sure we cover it all within a span of nine months. I never went to middle or junior high in the United States so I do not know what the system of education was like, but back home, we had a lot of subjects to deal with. Among them, as far as I can remember were Romanian literature and grammar, mathematics divided into algebra and geometry, world geography, world history, botany, a foreign language (in my case English), music, painting, wood and metal shop, basic physics, physical education, and homeroom (a fifty-minute class dealing mostly with political issues, pioneer activities, propaganda, and other similar subjects).

All of the above classes were mandatory, and they were to be divided from Monday through Saturday. After that, in the following years, more and more classes were added to our schedules such as basic chemistry and Russian (the second mandatory foreign language) in sixth grade. Latin and Constitution (similar to U.S. Government) were added in the eighth grade. Mythology was part of the Latin course. All of these were to be covered within a span of nine months, from September 15 until May 31 or the latest June 10.

I am sure a lot of you have a hard time imagining covering in fifth grade world history from the beginnings of human civilizations all the way to the decline and end of the Roman Empire in the West in AD 476. Many of you will hardly be able to understand what was going on because not many had to go through that kind of educational system. Many Americans were learning some of these things in ninth grade. If you ask any Iron Curtain person what the system was like during those times, I am sure they will be able to tell you pretty much the same thing.

The grading system was of course very different from the one in the United States. Instead of A, B, C, D and F, our system had numerical grades; 10 was considered A, 9 was A- or B+, 8 was B, 7 was C, 6 was C-, 5 was D, 4 was F, 3 and 2 was F- and 1 was given to those who were caught cheating on quizzes, tests, examinations.

Every student from the first grade to the twelfth grade had a grade booklet that they had to carry with them in their school bags at all times. When they were examined orally or in writing, they were supposed by law to turn in their grade booklets to be awarded their grades. Then in the allocated spaces the teacher would put the date, the subject, the grade, and signature, e.g.:

The grade booklet also contained a section called Comments in which any faculty or even staff could write notes to the parents in regard to the behavior, participation, and activity in class of the student. There were not that many compliments written in there, but the complaints were enough to fill a whole library. Then the students were supposed to show their grade booklets to their parents so these would know their children’s progress in classes (see above).

The socialist educational system was and still is second to none in the world. Of course, those of us who have lived in those times for the most part disliked the socialist system, but we all agreed that the education was one of the best. Our country’s leaders did try to educate us and make us fit for the future, even with all the other hardships that we had to endure from them: no freedom rights, no movement liberties, no access, etc. One of the rules written in the Code of Pioneers booklet was the following in regard to those who were a little behind of times: If you can’t do it, we will help you. If you try it, you will be rewarded. If you don’t want to do it, we will force you. In other words, the system would do anything for everyone no matter what.

One thing that I need to emphasize is the fact that our educators and teachers were allowed to hit, slap, spank the students for many reasons, mainly for not doing the homework or lying or swearing or anything that did not coincide with the Codes. In the United States, these acts are not allowed today, but I am sure that sometimes in the past, they were enforced. Some of the older American generations have told me that it did happen before the 1960s.

Back home, retaliation was severely punished in various ways, like grades lowered as far as conduct (striking, spitting, bad responses to a teacher was a high offence in any situation whether it was in school, during sport activities or even in public). Also, the parents were called at home and given strict instructions on their children’s behavior. Many times the parents had to come to school and discuss these issues with the student’s teachers, director, or commander in chief. It was up to the parents to decide whatever punishments they inflicted on their children, but in the meantime, the school had its rules of enforcing some of the punishments as well.

One serious punishment introduced by the Codes was the publishing of the students’ names on school tabloids for misconducts. No one was allowed to take out those names without the consent of the commander in chief, directors, or the Board of Education from within the school, up until those people will have done amends. Other punishments occurred as well. Then, depending on the gravity of the situations, the Board of Education and the commander in chief were to decide whatever actions or punishments were needed to be put in place and executed. School cleaning, sweeping the school square, cleaning classes, restrooms, alleys, and even the soccer field maintenance were some usual forms of punishments. Writing lines such as I will never swear again, or I will never bully others, were enforced, sometimes as many as a hundred times. Suspension from athletic events was also implemented. Many people considered these things as humiliating. Well, given the situation where the school is an institution of learning and not a stadium, these were in a way considered by many as salutary.

Of course, there were times when a student or more had the right to defend themselves as best they could. My older brother stated once that a teacher tried to hit him for something that he knew he didn’t do. As the teacher tried to hit him, he avoided the punch and the teacher hurt herself. When she tried again, he held her hand. She later called our father and complained about physical abuse. Of course, our father dealt with the teacher in his own way. In my case, well, things were a little bit different as the readers will find out in some of these chapters.

The system was also putting a lot of emphasis on the preparedness of every pioneer in regards to physical education, sports, and athletic events. Physical education courses dealt with a great deal of events that was considered by many to be the most fun and most enjoyable classes in junior high of all times. An hour or two outside the classrooms was always seen as a gateway to freedom. Of course, not like the gladiators from ancient times, but let’s be honest, who from among you never felt free after hours and hours of math, composition, chemical reactions, or examinations by enjoying some fresh air?

Every student and pioneer was basically madly in love for taking part in any physical education activities, whether it dealt with soccer, volleyball, basketball, rugby, baseball, handball, gymnastics, and so on. For the most part, boys of course were 98% of the time outside on the soccer field whether there were sunny days or snowy days. During rainy and muddy days, the boys were either playing indoor volleyball, basketball, handball, or learn from girls gymnastics. Girls in the meantime were either playing volleyball or basketball or just enjoying some gymnastics. Later on, both boys and girls were taking part in track and field events together. Tournaments of chess, fencing and ping-pong, were taken into consideration by some pioneers sometimes by necessity or by mandatory clauses.

The system’s rule during junior high as far as physical education and sports was: If you’re not taking part in anything of your free choice, then we will force you into something of our choice. In my class, everyone was involved into some sport no matter what and even if any misfit was never a sports addict, he or she was choosing a sport or some activity in order to avoid being forced into something he or she did not like.

Among the most popular sport activities soccer was the most preferred by boys and gymnastics or volleyball by girls. There were tournaments between classes in soccer while in gymnastics for the most part were either between individual persons or a small team made up of four to six teammates. When my class entered fifth grade, we had to put up not only a soccer team from among the boys, but also the girls had to compete into team gymnastics. The team that we had to field out of twenty boys was not considered to be one of the best. Why? Well, we did have quite a few students who were suffering from physical problems. Some were limping and others were considered to be far away from sports. The girls had similar problems, but they managed to put up a good team of gymnasts due to their feminine way of thinking: If you don’t think you can do it, stay away.

In the meantime, the boys were going through different points of view of who should make the team and who shouldn’t. Here I could not get involved in choosing who’s who because there were better soccer players than me who had more experience.

I did tell the other boys before we had to put up a team to be fielded during the upcoming school soccer tournaments the following:

If all of you will put everything aside, like any rivalry or differences of opinions, we can manage to come up with something, even though by any standards we have no chance of conquering the school trophy. Everyone thinks the fifth graders or the ‘rookies’ or the ‘fresh fish’ have a chance of being demolished, crushed, leveled, or simply run over by the older teams. If we can put up a team that can sustain all the abovementioned, then everyone will give us a chance, and of course, we have to maintain not only a discipline but also cooperation among ourselves both on and off field.

After that, the best players decided to put up a team that could be fielded even though they knew that it had no chance of success. I did tell them though, Don’t put up a team with the concept of being lost already. Those who think that they will lose are losers from the beginning. A team considers itself beaten from the moment it thinks it cannot or will not win. Always think positive. The Bible says of a story or conflict between a tiny little man called David and a super giant named Goliath. Given the challenge between the two, it is written that the little man won. So, why can’t we actually prove that at least we have a chance no matter what others will say?

The soccer tournament was organized similarly to that of the early 1934 and 1938 World Cup competitions. That is only eliminatory games, no group stages, win or watch from the sidelines. All classes between fifth and eighth grades participated. The school had at the time six classes for each grade named from A to F. The organizers for the tournament were ready to implement the same system as it was up until then but I vetoed it and made them rethink the format. In the past, they had only eliminatory games, no group stages. The system was working well but it was suspect. Usually too mediocre teams were matched up with very good teams, and 99% of the time the favorites were winning.

When I came up with the new format, I encountered a huge opposition, but I threatened everyone with the fact that if no new changes come into effect, there will be no tournament at all. So the organizers decided to let me come up with a new format. I