Saturday 17 February 2018

The best days of my life, my arse

I am going to contribute towards the education discussion by telling you about my school days.

The comprehensive school I was sent to because I failed my 11 Plus had the worst juvenile delinquency record for any school in the South bar London. I appeared to be reasonably intelligent, so I was put in the A Stream.

Being in the A Stream meant having French lessons, but because I was sent to the headmistress for talking in the Geography class, I was demoted to the B Stream. No more French lessons - ever.

The B Stream was generally geared toward science and engineering, but it was obvious to everyone that I would be more suited to the Arts. The headmistress was a nasty, bitter woman who did not like me. She decided she did not like me from the first moment she saw me - aged 7 or so - and she finally got the excuse she needed to punish me. I think it all stemmed from a previous incident when she was giving me a talking-to about working harder and said, "You need to pull your socks up."

I had never heard this expression before and since I was in short trousers with long socks, I took her literally and pulled them up. She must have thought I was being cheeky.

The teacher who sent me to her office that day asked me why I was in tears when I returned and I told him. He went to her office and pleaded with her to allow me to stay in the A Stream, but she would not reverse her decision. He was actually in tears himself when he apologised to me for what had happened, and said that if he knew that would be the outcome he would never have sent me. He even wrote a letter to my parents. He was new to the school - a locum teacher - and did not know how vindictive the headmistress could be. Even at that age, I knew what this demotion would mean for the rest of my life.

The maths teacher was a fighter pilot in WW2 and he quickly realised that I was desperately struggling with the most simple mathematics. Instead of giving me extra tuition to help, he gave up too. For several years I would sit at his desk at the front of the class whilst he told me stories about the war. Books would be open in front of me incase the headmaster came in. He would explain that he was giving me one-to-one tuition. I loved it, but my ability to cope with mathematics froze at that point, only slightly improving after I went into the real world.

My  marks for my maths O Level - Zero. It could have been minus one if I had spelled my name wrong, but luckily I was quite good at English Language.
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37 comments:

  1. Jennifer17 February 2018 at 05:12

    Some people should really, really not be teaching kids. That's something I've learned in my short tenure working at a school.

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  2. Cro Magnon17 February 2018 at 05:46

    I was a wizz at Geometry and Algebra, but hopeless at ordinary Maths. I blame that on an artistic/logical nature.

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    1. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 07:19

      That's a good enough excuse. I've been using it for years.

      Delete
  3. Maria17 February 2018 at 06:00

    My son was told by a primary school teacher that he was useless in maths. He believed her and lost all confidence in himself. He struggled throughout primary school and most of high school years. Then in his last school year, an excellent teacher put him back on track. My son met his primary school teacher not long ago and when asked what he is doing with his life now. He said that he doesn't do much but plays with numbers (to play number, in Italian also means gambling) She was surprised to learn that he has a PhD in mathematics.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 06:31

      There were a few teachers who were very good in their subjects at my school, but lousy at teaching. Then there was a sub-group who disliked children.

      Delete
  4. Jacqueline @ HOME17 February 2018 at 06:08

    I was rubbish at Maths but very artistic ..... the two don’t usually go together. 💋💋💋💋 XXXX

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  5. Jane Karwat17 February 2018 at 06:48

    I agree some people should never teach. I had a teach who was brutal the year we learned to tell time and it took me years to teach myself.
    I also had some pretty fantastic teachers but that one sure terrified me.

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    1. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 07:21

      We had a woodwork teacher who used terror tactics to keep us under control, but he was a better teacher than the ones who couldn't.

      Delete
  6. Rachel Phillips17 February 2018 at 07:20

    I do not have Maths 'O' level because for one reason I couldn't do algebra and for another I hated the maths teacher and she hated me. I am good at mental arithmetic though and that's all you need as a gambler. That goes back to good teaching when I was 7 or 8. I might as well have given up Maths after that: by then I knew all I needed to know.

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    1. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 07:24

      I became very good at mental addition when working behind the bar of a pub. These days, they don't bother to add up as they go along and just use the till to tot-up the total. They never use their heads and they can't remember phone numbers because of technology. I am told that you are allowed to take calculators into exams now.

      Delete
    2. Bea17 February 2018 at 09:01

      When I worked in a bar we were expected to add up the drinks total in our head as we went. The idea was to have to transaction go quickly & as smooth as possible.
      -no back and forth from till to customer before receiving payment.

      Delete
    3. Rachel Phillips17 February 2018 at 09:35

      Same here, there was no question of not adding the drinks up as you went along. Rounds in those days could be enormous too.

      Delete
    4. Rachel Phillips17 February 2018 at 09:36

      And nobody asked you if you could do it, it was just taken as read.

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    5. potty18 February 2018 at 02:31

      Thank goodness when I started behind a bar the currency was decimal. To work out a bill in half pennies, pence, shillings and pounds would have been a nightmare.

      Delete
    6. Rachel Phillips18 February 2018 at 04:33

      The half p was still going and I remember they were a bit of a nuisance.

      Delete
  7. Joanne Noragon17 February 2018 at 07:22

    At the end of the sixth grade the teacher called me to her desk and showed me the report she was preparing for our new school, junior high, seventh grade. "You are only an average student, always was, always will be," she informed me, as she put Average after my name. She was horrid. Her name was Horning and we called her Horn Head. And there you have the making of an average student. I do know the outcomes of many she thought were brilliant.

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    1. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 07:26

      Why do so many have to be cruel sadists? It shows something about their mental health when needless spite is used to make children feel small.

      Delete
    2. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 07:28

      Just at the time when most children are struggling to work out where they are positioned amongst their peers and fellows, some adult turns up and brands them as worthless, or at best average.

      Delete
  8. Christina17 February 2018 at 08:06

    Aaaaaaaah, Tom Stephensons school days. It has a certain ring to it!
    On a serious note though, teachers can make you or break you. I had more horrid teachers than I care to remember. I was a timid child and being barked at did nothing for my conference.
    I too am a maths dummy but good with all things creative.

    The things you create from a lump of stone are a testament to your creative intelligence.

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  9. Gabrielle Howard Gengler17 February 2018 at 09:04

    In the 70’s they knew nothing about children with learning difficulties. Teachers pets were students with high marks. They were praised often. I had a few teachers who really cared for me. I did much better those years! Gabs

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    1. Tom Stephenson18 February 2018 at 04:04

      Only recently has dyslexia had allowances made for it.

      Delete
  10. The Weaver of Grass17 February 2018 at 10:32

    There's a moral in there somwhere although I just can't think what it is.

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  11. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 10:49

    Just after I finished writing this, we had an earthquake - epicentre in Wales and 4.4 on the scale. I thought something heavy had fallen down somewhere.

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  12. John Going Gently17 February 2018 at 13:37

    I have one a level ( a poor grade) in georgraphy
    It never ceases to amuse the Prof

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  13. John Going Gently17 February 2018 at 15:40

    I passed the oral

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  14. Tom Stephenson17 February 2018 at 16:39

    My replies have packed up so I'll return tomorrow.

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  15. Lettice18 February 2018 at 00:17

    The earth certainly moved for you guys!

    LX

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  16. elegancemaison18 February 2018 at 15:08

    Tom - I suspect that you very likely may not have 'failed' the 11plus. You just didn't get (were "awarded") a place in the local grammar school due to restricted numbers. That happened more often to girls than boys back in the day ( quelle surprise). But I had the same experience from my village school where I was top of the class in everything. My poor headmaster couldn't understand it. Shortly afterwards my (RAF) father was posted to Australia where I attended the local High School and when we returned to the UK three years later looking for a school for me to attend we discovered from the educational authority that I had indeed 'passed' the 11plus. Furthermore in my much later law degree studies I discovered that many local authorities had routinely 'failed' girls in favour of boys despite their exam results.

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