I was probably 11 when I walked into Ms. Lucas's English class that day.

I have no clue what the discussion was about or what we were studying at the time. I only know that she called on me for some reason and I wasn't prepared.

"Why don't you have your homework?" she asked.

"I didn't have time to do it," I replied.

"What could you have possibly been doing that was more important than doing your homework?" she persisted.

"I had to shovel 3,000 pounds of corn for feed and take it to the hog pen. I didn't get home until about midnight."

She was incredulous. "You did not!"

I was undeterred. Looking around the room, I asked, "Howard Moore - what did you do when you got home yesterday?"

I don't remember what Howard said but I know that his story was similar to mine.

This was more than 40 years ago. I went to a county school and several of my teachers commuted from an urban sprawl an hour away. These teachers had no ties to our town. They had no real idea what life was like in an agrarian community.

There were other farmer's kids in the class but I knew that the Moores had a fairly large spread. That's why I called out Howard.

We were always busy after school. While I didn't have to grind feed every day, I did have to feed the hogs and power wash their pens.

If it were not that, it would be something else. I had to cut and turn land or plow corn or peanuts. We grew squash for the market. And turnips. And hot tobasco peppers. There was always something that needed to be done.

I knew several kids who'd get wasted and get into all kinds of trouble but none of them were farmer's kids. We didn't have the time.