A Facebook Cracked article made me remember how, in the 1940s, my father swam in the nude in his gym class at Normandy High. That was a thing public schools did, back in the day.
Thankfully, girls didn't have to do that, and they phased that out for boys before I got to high school. However, what they didn't phase out was figure drawing class. Not nude drawing class. But still, figure drawing class. So that meant everyone had to take their turn being the model instead of the artist. That also meant, in my case, that all the artists voiced opinions on why my figure was particularly difficult to draw.
"My drawing looks weird because her legs are so short."
"How can she be so tall with such short legs?"
"I think it's because she's long-waisted. All her height's in her waist and not her legs."
"I think she's long-butted. Her butt covers up half her legs."
"Mr. Y, can we have another model? I've erased her legs three times now."
(I'd like to say that Mr. Y had gone out of the room, but he had not. In his defense he did have a brain tumor that killed him a few years later.)
(I’d also like to say Mr. Y. took pity on my 16-year-old mortification and switched to another model, but instead he walked around the circle, observed the work, and silently concurred that the artwork, particularly the work from the long-butted side, would be too much for me to view.)
He told me to sit down. The class all tore their work off the newsprint pads, and started again with a more normal person.
My freakishly short legs (”seriously, it’s like she’s half dwarf”) might be why artist boyfriend Virgil chose to have me sit when he did the silkscreen of me.

So, do teachers still do this in high school art class figure drawing? Or is it like naked swimming, just a cruel thing to do to high school students' self-worth?
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