Muse of the day 10-13: My School Bank Account

Zach, a boy who thinks, I bet he figures a best way to save for a rainy day.

Some of the greatest gifts given to me were given when I was very young.

How many remember having their own bank account in the 1950s?  The wisdom of our elders who knew the importance of teaching us about saving. Our accounts bore interest. It’s so hard to look back and believe, we kids banked monthly at school, we saved more than a lot of adults do today.  I remember that smiling face that took my money and updated my bank book, and encouraged me to do even more saving.

The independence it gave me was unreal, and it came in handy the first week of second grade. I loved school, I was plenty happy with my teacher, but somehow that marble I had in my hand went through a pane of glass!  I remember the feeling in my stomach, my parents are going to hear about this, and will my back side get warmed up?  But I went up to the janitor inspecting the hole, and asked.. how much to replace that glass?

The answer was $2.50, a lot of money at the time, in fact it was half what a kid needed to buy that fancy metal machine cap gun that no kid had I knew.  But I had that much and more and tendered the $2.50 cents from my school bank account to pay for what I had broke. My Parents never knew, and even to this day, my sisters and brothers have never heard the story. What a wonderful feeling it was to have that independence at seven years old…. to settle up on my own debt!

And now, our Government does EVERYTHING possible to discourage savings, no interest, and now they add even more taxes on top of the wee interest earned. It’s as if they think a nation of debtors will find less fault with those in Washington DC who know only how to spend?

I loved my first grade teacher, she taught us so much, and much of it is likely not allowed to be taught today.