In the 1960s, Elwood High School was a new school of boring,
grey, rendered, single-level buildings. The main two were built in 1957 at right
angles to each other, in the north-west corner of the site. There was also a
cluster of three smaller buildings of
the same style in the south-east corner some distance from the main ones. Its overwhelming feature was the flat concrete space near the buildings and the grassy softball and hockey fields a little further away from the buildings and windows. Much of this vacant land has now been covered by parking and new buildings. The
main entrance then was from the lovely, tree-lined, shady Goldsmith St.
For me it was a totally unfettered set upon which my day-time,weekday, adolescent life was played out. The school hierarchy did not create
any obstacles for me, nor did it restrict my freedom. I entered the school unscarred and left unscarred, with a
collection of prizes, a handful of friends (some of whom I keep in touch even
now) and sufficiently good marks to let me pick both the course and the
university I wanted. I can truly say
that I did not mind school one little bit. In fact, I may even admit that I
liked my stay in this secure and invisibly-controlled environment.
