Soldier of the Day

  I ran across these "name tags" in a folder of old school papers, report cards, etc., and they are from my first year in kindergarten. 

Their idea of "Soldier of the Day"

   Early in the school year the teacher announced a program called "Soldier of the Day." Each day one student would be chosen and designated as the Soldier of the Day. This would be the student who kept his/her workspace neat, sat quietly after finishing a task, did not disturb others and obeyed the teacher. The title came with privileges such as being first in line, erasing the chalkboard, emptying the trash and other distractions from the routine day. 
   Each time it came to announce the Soldier of the Day I would shove everything into my desk, sit up straight, and put on my most charming smile. Of course, the concept that you had to do all of these things prior to the announcement never occurred to me. However, once I realized that the "honor" did not come complete with a rifle and a uniform I quickly lost interest. 
   Based on the name tags I found it looks like I must have been chosen at least three times and I'm sure that each time I was secretly hoping they'd hand over a bazooka, or at least a really cool knife - but, no such luck. And, yes, those are staples in the name tags. It seems that in 1970 it was perfectly okay for a teacher to staple things to your child's shirt. I sincerely doubt they could get away with that today. 

What I thought it was going to be like

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