Graduating to Stevenson Intermediate meant growing up fast. Suddenly, the other gender became noticeable - and much more bothersome.
Back then, female students wore mostly dresses to class. So, at the bell, some nasty boys would race to the bottom of stairs to look up at the panties of girls walking down.
No way did those morons deserve such cheap thrills. We resorted to wearing rolled up shorts under our skirts, even though they were bulky, hot and uncomfortable. When the foiled voyeurs feigned loud groans of disappointment, the girls would laugh.
In hindsight, though, what the guys did wasn't funny. It was sexual harassment.
It's true, all you eyeball-rolling, head-shaking cynics out there. Sexual harassment was and still is rampant in the schools, and it occurs even among the youngest students.
Therefore, count me among the few in the world who's not chuckling over 6-year-old Johnathan Prevette of Lexington, N.C. He is the blond, bespectacled little boy who was recently disciplined by his teacher for kissing a female classmate on the cheek.
Calling the incident "political correctness run amok," his outraged parents alerted the press and are mad enough to sue.
I'm pretty huhu myself, but for a different reason. Because if Johnathan's buss on the cheek really wasn't (and probably isn't) sexual harassment, then why isn't there a public furor over the thousands of other incidents of authentic sexual harassment in our schools and society? Why did the media focus so much on this freakish anomaly instead of what's going on every day?
Few take the problem seriously, that's why. Unwanted, unrelenting bothering of people of the opposite gender is passed off as teasing, flirtation, harmless child's play or part of life. Students are supposed to withstand or ignore the namecalling, groping and ogling in the hallways. If they complain, they're labeled troublemakers.
This is why the problem of sexual harassment persists. In fact, it is so prevalent in our society that we downplay its seriousness. We make fun of the offense by focusing on a bewildered 6-year-old kid and saying, "Look at this poor victim of the PC police." The sympathy is misplaced.
IN my book, that Lexington teacher who disciplined Johnathan should get laurels, not a lambasting. Hallelujah. At least one school in this crazy country is telling students to keep their hands, feet, eyes and lips to themselves. Instead of threatening to sue, Mrs. Prevette should have explained to her young son that it's not always OK to do what you want, or what others want you to do, if it's against the rules.
If more parents did that, maybe adolescents wouldn't be forced to endure relentless taunting, touching and humiliation while growing up. Maybe the rate of teen suicide would plunge. Maybe daughters wouldn't have to wear shorts under their dresses so that the boys don't see their underwear.
That's a lot of maybes, but one thing's for sure: Parents and schools had better start taking this issue more seriously - including at the elementary level, where a brand-new generation of small-kid memories are being formed.