From 7th through 12th grades, as in most schools of the era, we read lots of books. Some of them were fun; some of them were dense and challenging classics. There were a number of books that taught a lot more, that stretched out through the ceilings of our little school. There was a book about Father Damien and his life among people who had been set apart because they suffered from leprosy. There was Hiroshima - a small, powerful, people-oriented history about what it was like to be living in Japan at the time of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima (the first nuclear device to be used as a weapon in war). There was Black Like Me, and stories about Sojourner Truth and Booker T. Washington, both former slaves. There was The Diary of Anne Frank, a 13-year-old girl who recorded the months before she and her family were sent to concentration camps during the Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s. These books were helpful in gaining knowledge and developing empathy.

We also read and studied the Bible. Our school was founded by Catholic nuns in the 1800s, so that was not unusual as a part of religious education. However, over the years, I've seen that reading the Bible is a valuable part of a general education. In addition to the story of Jesus of Nazareth, it contains stories and historical events from many hundreds of years past. It has a lengthy family tree within it. Its books contain a lot of philosphy, wisdom, and human error. The Bible in some way or another has been considered a core issue in wars that have occurred. (It's worth trying to understand that.) And parts of what we westerners call the Bible are also contained in the holy books of other world religions, those both older and more recent than Christianity. Parts of their holy books might broaden what we find in our holy books.

With school came textbooks in math, literature, and science; civics, French, and history. In addition to the literature, I especially liked the geometry textbook.

One subject that I don't recall ever coming up in our reading is romance. Romance is a fundamental to life yet somewhat underrated in our country, both in school and out.