I was in kindergarten in 1996, and during the week of the election, our teacher explained to us what an election was, and took us down to the library to "vote" for the president. We got to use the school computers, which were those old Apples with the green-ish screens if I remember right. I was really excited about that, because we didn't have a computer at home, and the only time I got to use one was when I went to see my dad at work.

Anyway, I think I "voted" for Bob Dole, because my best friend at the time did. (Haha, peer pressure) I think he voted for Dole because he thought his name sounded cooler than Clinton's. When I told my mom that, she called me a traitor. Lol. (She was a big Clinton fan.)

And that was my very first experience with American politics, at the tender age of five.

Post edited at 7:16 pm on July 31, 2008 by airemaye

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Stuff I've written
*For the wretched of the earth, there a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise*

Post edited at 11:39 pm on July 31, 2008 by Blue Baby

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Ang Akong Balay

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Quote: from T E C H N O at 2:43 pm on July 20, 2008

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Quote: from xXDarkened ShAdowsXx at 2:40 pm on July 20, 2008

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Tell me... How was it?    

I did attend some school in the 90's, but that was kindergarten, and also, this was 1999 ~ 2000    

Does that really count?

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You just admited to being under 13 :o..I think.

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Nope. I'm 13, and my 14th b-day happens to be next month.

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Good God, I can't believe kids who were in kindergarten in the 1999 - 2000 school year are now teens. I feel so old.  

Anyway, I was in primary school from 1993 (kindergarten) to 2000. I think the biggest difference from then to now were the use of computers and the internet. During the time I was in elementary school, internet was either mostly unheard of, or just starting up (probably after 1996ish - but I don't remember the internet becoming so popular until after 2000, mainly when I got into high school). As a result, computers were generally treated more as toys than anything else (such as a tool for research) - they were more regarded as something for computer gaming. Classrooms and libraries usually did not have computers as a result, but toward the end of elementary school (1999ish), I remember my school district making it a requirement for every classroom to have a computer.

I did use the internet occasionally in the late 90s, mostly to look up specific information more than anything else, though. It was pretty different compared to now. Since everybody used dial up (I don't remember even hearing of people using things like DSL or cable until 2001 or 2002), you didn't see all the fancy pictures, animations, videos, etc. that you see online today. Instead, it was almost all text and some colors here and there. You'd find a picture occasionally, but they'd take a good 10 seconds to load. Advertisements were also fewer and farther between, too. They were there, but usually more crude and more independent stuff - nowadays, it's not uncommon to find advertisements of large companies on the internet, with fancy ads as opposed to the more basic ones in the late 90s.  I also remember the fear for sexual predators out to get you online being much more exaggurated in the late 90s / early 2000s compared to now.

I also remember a much bigger emphasis on learning cursive than I believe there is now. I remember my teachers assigning us to write some essays in cursive only - printing it from a computer wasn't accepted. However, after the 4th grade, I remember any requirement to learning cursive was basically thrown out and pretty much forgotten while we were half way through. After that point, cursive became useless and I've never needed to use it, except during some part on the SATs where I had to rewrite some statement in cursive and sign it (hardest thing on the test, I swear) and reading obscure letters.

I don't remember a whole lot else that's different, other than the whole Pokemon fan around 1999 and 2000. I remember my friends and I making those games our lives, and trying to always outdo each other with our Pokemon card collections, which always paled in comparison to mine because I got incredibly lucky and kept getting Charizard cards (widely considered to be the best). At first I thought they were shitty because I kept getting them, but then I realized they were the most valuable and wound up trading my extras (I had like 5 of those cards altogether) for a shitload of other rare cards.  Then I'd lol at my friends whiose most valuable cards were no better than Raichu or something. Good times.

Post edited at 12:24 am on Aug. 1, 2008 by Bud2400