[This is an excerpt from a transcript of interviews between Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams and her father, Carlos C. Collins, recorded February 14, 1982. Passages in italics are his actual words, although portions may have been omitted for brevity. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
Carlos Collins -
When Arthur [Arthur Collins 1887-1908] had finished about what was equal to a grade school and he wanted to go on to college, we found out if we went into Abilene he could enter Simmons College, that is, the Academy department. I guess it was the equivalent of a high school these days and they decided we’d move to Abilene and put all the kids in school. Of course Arthur went into Academy at Simmons College and Ray, myself, and Beulah went into the grade schools in Abilene.
They were pretty good schools but they were strictly graded and we didn’t get there until late in the fall – I guess November. School had been going two months and we were kind of [behind]. The school teachers didn’t like it because they didn’t know where to place us. We hadn’t been in a grade school, but just a country school which if you did all right in one thing that was OK, but they weren’t graded. So when they put us into a class we didn’t know anything about what they were starting, they had already been going for two or three months and we were kind of in a bad way.
They kept putting us back and putting us back. Finally they put us back too far, I know that. It wasn’t long before they found out we really did know a little something and they put us forward, kept promoting us. Finally it took almost the whole year to get us to the place we properly belonged.
It wasn’t too pleasant to start that way. But I guess we outlived it. The teachers and the management finally decided we weren’t as dumb as they thought we were at the start.
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