12 lessons I learned in school
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| The school badge: Fac et Spera (Work and Hope) |
Recently I've been cerebrating my own school days. While contemplating the woes of exams I began to contemplate
some of the lessons that couldn’t be examined in a two hour exam. While there
is much criticism about the relevance of school in a fast changing world (thanks
Sir Ken Robinson) we forget that there are schools where there is more good
than harm and I can think of a lesson I learned between Grade 1 and Grade 12
that have been relevant for the “real world” in spite of going to a school that
was an English enclave with colonial traditions.
Grade 1: I discovered I was a writer. My first story was published.
It wasn’t published because I was a child prodigy but because the school
magazine was an anthology of all the learners’ creative work. In the form of a
black and white paperback, my story (about Carly and her kitten) appeared
amongst other pieces of writing riddled with all the writing errors Foundation
Phase teachers have to make sense of in the process of teaching children to
become writers.
Grade2: I learned not to make fun of people’s accents. My
Grade 2 teacher was from Ireland and she had an heavy Irish accent. When I
first met her I couldn’t understand her but I grew to love the way she
pronounced “R”. As a class we tried to convince her she was incorrect but she
persisted until we accepted that hers was a different “R”.
Grade 3: I learned to live without my mother. In order to be
closer to school my mother asked a family friend to look after my sister and I
as she wasn’t able to support us financially (my father had taken a leave of
absence from family life and had disappeared leaving us with a tale of his
return). My sister and I were taken in by a family friend who lived close to
the school so we could walk to school. My teacher was appalled when she found
out and gave me her phone number in case of an emergency. I don’t remember
using it because I was happy being away from home meant being closer to school.
Grade 4: I learned to do the “7 times table” backwards. I
remember the simple thrill and the laughs of being able to count backwards.
This skill only made sense when I was doing higher grade Maths in high school,
but nothing for my daily life I must say.
Grade 5: I was bullied. She spat in my face. She laughed at
my strange hairstyles and she laughed when I couldn’t play ugqaphs and uduva. At the
time I couldn’t understand why she was such a horrible person, I still don’t. I
wish I could say I spat in her face and fought back, but I didn’t. I couldn’t
because I didn’t have a reason to do so. And when something similar
inexplicable happens in my adult life I simply shrug it off and move on without
getting too much spit on my face.
Grade 6: I convinced myself my
class teacher hated me. In retrospect I realise she didn’t. Amongst many
important lessons in her classroom I learned the importance of “taking the
initiative”. There were posters in the classroom related to group work and one
particular poster had the words “initiator”. Mrs F explained the concepts and I
liked the idea of being someone who takes the initiative and gets things done.
I still try to take the initiative, what my friends used to call ukuzigqatsa!
Grade 7: During an unprepared oral in an English lesson I
discovered I enjoyed speaking in front of people. I also found out that my English
teacher at the time had completed a Masters degree. It was announced in
assembly and I remember thinking “Hmmm, if Mrs N can do it, it must be
something important”. People always ask me why I would be a teacher considering
I have a Masters degree. I wish I could tell them that my Grade 7 English
teacher had one and my high school Biology teacher had one and they were great
teachers so it makes sense that I should have one too.
Grade 8: In Grade 8 I met Ms. S. She became a real-life
example of a feminist. Our first English lesson she taught us about the
difference between Ms. and Miss. She explained why she wanted to be called Ms.
and not Miss (Ms. pronounced with the –s sounding like –z). This made sense to
me when I discovered that my mother hadn’t changed her surname when she got
married and was technically Ms. Mashologu but was referred to as Mrs Masola for
the sake of social conventions. And I also learned never to be late for Ms. S’s
English lessons.
Grade 9:I was part of the unfortunate group of students who
were guinea pigs of Outcomes-based Education. This meant compiling portfolios for
each subject. I learned to keep immaculate portfolios which teachers used as an
example of a good filing system. This skill has been indispensable now that I’m
a teacher.
Grade 10: I dropped Science and chose History instead. I was
told that if I dropped Science I was limiting the opportunities I could choose
from when I matriculated. I was okay with the perceived limitation because I
learned that there are certain choices that can be undone. And I’ve never felt
limited by the decision I made because a liberal arts degree is where its at!
Grade 11: I decided to submit my cv and apply for being a
prefect. I was putting myself out there and choosing to become a firm part of
the school’s system. I think there were about 50 people and 21 of us were
chosen. In spite of the criticism towards the prefect system, I enjoyed the
opportunity and have no regrets about that year. As prefects we hosted an event
“Party in the park” which made me realise the importance of being a
do-er(taking the initiative), rather than waiting for others to make things
happen!
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