Scrobs had an email recently, from the Secretary of his Old Boys Membership Group at his old school.
It was an obituary for a master, who was a Housemaster when I was there in the sixties, and although he never taught me, of course, I remember him well! He taught maths mainly, but some other peripheral subjects, and also was in charge of the Naval Section of the CCF, so was quite a busy bloke.
I didn't go to the memorial service, as it was a day's drive away, but on reading the eulogy, I was surprised to find out that after retiring, he spent about ten years working with young lads in prisons, to teach them to read and write!
To me, this was an admirable consequence to a life in academia, and I hope that those who managed to learn the basic skills have managed to improve their lives.
I was discussing this with Senora O'Blene, and she, as a retired teacher, mentioned that it must have been an incredibly challenging occupation, as there's a vast difference in teaching young children to read and write, with books and coloured pictures and trying to do the same with adults, who have already become weary with new tech, TV, films and worse.
Of course, I'll never know how he managed to keep all this going, but clearly he managed to get across the basics, and the lads just may have learned that there's a lot more to life than football, fags and a fight!
That's a worthwhile legacy I'd have never even thought about!
Good for him - not being able to read must be a huge handicap. I wonder what he thought of schools where some pupils ended up unable to read when they left?
ReplyDeleteYes AK, I thought that too.
ReplyDeleteHe could be a bit of a bully at times, but most people I met later on, knew him as a good teacher, if somewhat irascible.
He always lived on his own, as a sort of single Mr Chips, and turned up at every OB function, remembering everyone's name and job too, so was just a good teacher! I can't think of him ever being married, but he certainly had no vices and I always thought of him as an honorable man who chose a different lifestyle to the mainstream.
We have a lady version in our village who is a gortgeous, lovely chum, and we just cannot fathom why she never got spliced, as she is the real Miss Jean Brodie, and was impressivlye attractive in her younger years!
'Nowt so queer as folk' in the nicest way, not the alternative!
Dreadful typos in my answer, AK - apols,
ReplyDeleteI even apologised with yet another one immediately after...
The subject would certainly not have approved...
Scrobs, if that's your comment you deleted, it's possible to remove it altogether as a blogger admin.
ReplyDeleteThank you James, it's on another account, hence the 'real' name, but I should do that more often!
ReplyDelete