From the Magazine Editor - September 20, 2002

The order does reverse itself. Time was when finishing school was merely a celebration of the fact that uniforms could be dumped, severe hairstyles could be loosened and bright, snazzy fashions would be allowed to crowd the wardrobe. It was a liberation of sorts but not completely.

College was a state of mind, not a paradigm shift, because life still had all the familiar signposts to mark your place in it. You would still be coming home from college, eating mama's predictable but irreplaceable lunches, meeting the same friends and greeting the same neighbours.

The details were different though; the university bus took a different route; the professors were new; peer group pulls and pressures thrilling; studies compelling in a merciful way and scoring marks was an enjoyable challenge. Some campus details were sparingly conveyed to parents and others were unstoppably repeated.

Beyond that, life was pretty much all about snuggling in each night in the same oyster that surrounded you since birth... till it was time to shuck the shell back and step out (some years later) into a harshly-lit, hugely-expanded world.

Never can decide if that was a better way to grow up than the present one where the end of school, for most children, heralds a complete change of lifestyle and attitude. It's a push into the deep end of the pool but sometimes, that's the best way to learn how to swim...