When you came home from school and your parents asked what did you learn, what did you answer?

They never asked. It was always, “How was your day?” Or something equally generic with no follow up. I’m sure I blathered on anyway about stuff I learned despite it being unsolicited.

My parents never asked that question, because it was expected that I learn what ever was being presented. They always knew what book I was reading because we went to the library at least once a week.

They only asked me that question through like 3rd grade, and I do not remember what I said.

I had to be very specific. Like the first 10 Presidents, or the continents, etc.

My family were big on history and tended to supplement in certain areas.

No one ever asked me about school when I came home each day (until I flunked 2nd grade). Didn’t learn much at all the second year in 2nd grade or 3rd grade. Somehow I made it to 4th grade where I finally started to learn how to read and actually try to be a good student.
When I came home from school there was just my two older sisters (3 and 5 years older than me). And they were usually gone (off doing their own thing). So I basically ran wild after school (lying, cheating and getting into trouble). There was nearly never any adult supervision at home. Mom was always gone or sleeping (worked a lot and refused what she called “State Aid”). It was pandemonium. Nothing made sense. We were a very unhappy and sad bunch (nothing like a family). At meal time it felt like it was everyone for themselves. Like a wolf pack.
At times there wasn’t enough food. At school during lunch, I sometimes went to the boy’s room to hide until kids started coming out of the cafeteria and then I’d just start playing with them until it was time for class.
FYI: My father died when I was 4 from a long battle with leukemia (no life insurance because no company would insure him).

@gondwanalon That’s just fucking sad. I’m sorry it was like that for your family, and especially, for you. I simply cannot imagine.

@smudges I can only guess what caused me to start trying to be a good student. For sure my 4th grade teacher (Mrs. Butler) was a huge positive influence on me. She was very honest with me (and tough) and told me that she heard all about me and she refused to tolerate any of my nonsense. She told me to come to school a half hour early each day to learn how to read. Started with Dick & Jane and then I progressed rapidly. By junior high I had caught up with the rest of the class. Did better in high school. Went to junior college to get an AA degree. 3 years later I graduated from Humboldt State University with a BA in Zoology. Then I switched gears quickly (adding a few Clinical Science classes) to get licensed and registered as Medical Lab Technologist in 3 different national medical laboratory organizations (retired after 37 years of working in hospital labs and medical research labs).

I meant to get back to this sooner – First, yayyy Mrs. Butler! You really needed someone like her in your life and poof there she was!

I also got an AA at a junior college, then went on to get a BA. I ended up being a Medical Lab Technician at 2 prestigious hospitals as well as developing a lab myself in a 7-doctor practice, eventually doing hundreds of thousands of tests/year by myself.

I really enjoyed being a tech and learned so much about the human body as a result. And looking at stained blood slides was like going into a different universe. Beautiful! Just gorgeous! I always meant to get a few in a picture somehow, then make framed posters.

It’s unusual to meet other laboratorians. Glad that you found the profession enjoyable.

My dream in school was to become a veterinarian but I didn’t get the grades. I learned about clinical science from fellow students. In school I excelled in my biology and chemistry lab classes. And the idea of getting paid to do lab work caught my attention and I went for it. I loved it at first but honestly the novelty wore off quickly. It was hard for me to deal with the hight stress. I worked at 5 different medical center labs and they all had a few bad attitude lab techs. Lucky I found a smaller clinic lab with friendly and helpful coworkers where I spent the last 20 years of my career.

By far the most enjoyable part of being a Med Tech was working with the new young lab techs fresh out of school. They were generally so bright eyed and eager to learn. That gave me energy. We sometimes helped each other especially as we learned to operate new analyzers and new computer programs. They would help me understand and maneuver the new analyzer computer programs and I helped them see the big picture what was significant. It seemed like they were so caught up in doing things exactly as tthey learned them. But there is always range of what is acceptable (a certain amount of plus and a minus) in all aspects in the clinical lab and in life.

Good health!

^^ and good health to you, also!