I. My elementary school years were unremarkable. When I was twelve years old, my parents sent me to live with my grandmother. I think my parents weren't able to care for all of us. I suppose a policeman's salary in Saigon was grossly inadequate.
My grandmother's house was huge. There were actually two houses within one compound. My grandmother lived in one house, and my uncle's family lived in another. My uncle was a high ranking military officer, I think one step below a one star general, and he was also a military judge. They enrolled me in the sixth grade at a school for children of military officers. There was no tuition, and the school was located inside a military base. Most of the teachers were civilians. I studied at this school until the seventh grade, when I left Vietnam at the end of the war.
II. Although I can't write in Vietnamese anymore, I was a good writer in the seventh grade. I was also a good speaker. Our school was co-ed, but each class room was segregated by gender. Occasionally, the teacher would invite the best female students from the same grade to visit our classroom for a debate. The theme of a debate was about a book that we would have read in advanced.
Our class would then select the best students for a team of about five students. We would present our understanding of the book and then take questions from the female students. The goal was to outwit the other team. I was usually the main speaker and took most of the questions.
III. I was always a leader and a rebel. The principal at our school did not like me. He perceived me as a threat and wanted to make an example out of me. One day, there was a large military truck parked near our school. A group of my classmates and I climbed onto the truck to play. Eventually, some of us got inside the cab and turned the ignition key. We all ran away when the principal came out to investigate.
He singled me out for punishment. The punishment was being hit by a rod on the buttocks. I don't know how many times I was hit, but I remember taking my punishment without flinching or making even a whimper. This only infuriated him even more as he would continue hitting me harder. When he saw that I was being defiant, he decided on the ultimate way to humiliate me. I was to kneel by the flag pole in the middle of the school yard so that all of the students could see. I had to kneel by that flag pole for half of the school day through the mid afternoon sun. At one point, I thought about getting up and leave, but I also knew that I wouldn't be able to go to school anymore, and I wanted to be in school.
IV. One day, a student told the teacher that someone had stolen his book. The teacher couldn't find out who the thief was, so he got the principal to come to our classroom. The principal said he would punish the whole class unless the one who stole the book would stand up and identify himself. After what seemed like a very long five minutes of silence, the person who stole the book wouldn't identify himself. I knew the principal would punish everyone, and I just couldn't let him do it. I stood up and said I stole the book. He looked at me, then asked where I kept the book. I couldn't say where the book was, because I didn't have it. He didn't say anything and then walked away. After that incident, he never picked on me again. I think he knew I had the respect of my peers.