Q
Quirkybird
Guest
Were they the apocryphal 'happiest days of your life'?
I started school at the age of four in 1954. I was sent to what was an elementary school (4-14) when I first went there. I was bullied because my family was better off than most of my peers, and they were jealous. My father told me to hit them harder than they hit me. I would probably have been badly injured or killed if I had taken that daft advice! The head teacher was a thug and a bully, he beat the hell out of the kids from poverty stricken homes because he didn't like them. He beat one boy unconscious but got away with it!
At the age of eleven I was sent to a fee paying Ladies College, where I wasn't bullied, but many of the staff would have fitted in very well at Harry Potter's Hogwarts! Most of them were getting on for about 100, or so it seemed to us! The Latin master reckoned he was the ghost of a prophet, I kid you not! The handwork mistress only lacked a witch's hat. In class she wore a black cloak, hat and fingerless mittens! One of the maths mistresses wore short white socks in summer, and three quarter length socks in winter. If she spied a cat out of the classroom window she ran out of the class to try to cuddle it. The biology master was highly embarrassed when it came to explaining the facts of life to a class of fifteen year olds, and we certainly made the most of it! "Ooh Sir, you are going redder and redder." The hefty chemistry mistress's chair collapsed under her, and she was on her back with her legs in the air, displaying her long pink knickers. The desk lids went up as we tried to staunch our laughter. But give the old girl her due, when she regained her balance she said, "It is alright gals, you may laugh".
I have plenty more anecdotes but those will suffice.
I am still in touch with one of the best teachers the geography mistress, now 88, of whom I am fond, even though she was quite strict. I phone her every month and always visit her on the rare occasions I go home. I still feel I should sit up straight and mind my ps and qs when in her presence. When I hit 60, four years ago, I was given permission to call her by her first name, as I was now an old age pensioner!
I started school at the age of four in 1954. I was sent to what was an elementary school (4-14) when I first went there. I was bullied because my family was better off than most of my peers, and they were jealous. My father told me to hit them harder than they hit me. I would probably have been badly injured or killed if I had taken that daft advice! The head teacher was a thug and a bully, he beat the hell out of the kids from poverty stricken homes because he didn't like them. He beat one boy unconscious but got away with it!
At the age of eleven I was sent to a fee paying Ladies College, where I wasn't bullied, but many of the staff would have fitted in very well at Harry Potter's Hogwarts! Most of them were getting on for about 100, or so it seemed to us! The Latin master reckoned he was the ghost of a prophet, I kid you not! The handwork mistress only lacked a witch's hat. In class she wore a black cloak, hat and fingerless mittens! One of the maths mistresses wore short white socks in summer, and three quarter length socks in winter. If she spied a cat out of the classroom window she ran out of the class to try to cuddle it. The biology master was highly embarrassed when it came to explaining the facts of life to a class of fifteen year olds, and we certainly made the most of it! "Ooh Sir, you are going redder and redder." The hefty chemistry mistress's chair collapsed under her, and she was on her back with her legs in the air, displaying her long pink knickers. The desk lids went up as we tried to staunch our laughter. But give the old girl her due, when she regained her balance she said, "It is alright gals, you may laugh".
I am still in touch with one of the best teachers the geography mistress, now 88, of whom I am fond, even though she was quite strict. I phone her every month and always visit her on the rare occasions I go home. I still feel I should sit up straight and mind my ps and qs when in her presence. When I hit 60, four years ago, I was given permission to call her by her first name, as I was now an old age pensioner!
