"How was school, Ben?" I asked my grandson after he began kindergarten  this year. "The work is too long... and there's not enough time to play," he replied. I couldn't help but remember Ben's own mother, my daughter, Jane, and her reaction  to the first day of school. Julie was also disappointed with the first day of school and so was her little sister. My three-year-old daughter announced angrily after her big sister got on the big yellow school bus, "I want to go 'sool' and you not let me!" When Julie returned home that afternoon, I asked her the same question that I asked Ben, "How was school, Julie?" Julie replied, "I didn't learn to read today." This year as the school bus passed my house, my mind went back to those school days again. I could almost smell the chalk dust in the air. I also wonder what the children these days manage to get chosen to do in order to get out of school for a few moments since there are no erasers to clean. It was fun to be "chosen" for eraser cleaning duty. This was a task finished by going outside and beating erasers together while sneezing and coughing. No wonder so many babies now have allergies , and it's simply because we all have chalk dust in our lungs! On the first day of school, the expectation was so great that I would be ready long before it was time to leave for school. We didn't have backpacks because we had cigar boxes. We carried our small supplies inside a cigar box from one of the local stores. We saved the cigar boxes and used them from year to year until they fell apart. The first day of school was exciting. It was a new beginning. The doors of knowledge had been opened. The first day of school is an event in our lives that most of us remember. It's a big step for a small child toward leaving babyhood and so "there isn't enough time to play". Why did Jane become angry according to the passage?
Because she didn't learn to read on the first day of school. Because there was too much work for her to do at school. Because she had no time to play at school. Because she was not allowed to go to school.