And this was in a country town! In Russian, the girls got to hit the boy in front on the head with a Russian dictionary if he gave the teacher a wrong answer. Early version of pupil-centred teaching.
Now working on what happens next. We’ll all find out in a fortnight!
As an alumni of Glasgow's notorious Hardlad Senior Secondary your diary entry brought back many happy memories - polling (don't ask), Miss Deagan the music teacher, rechristened 'Miss Dragon' because she was fond of belting 3 or 4 victims at the end of every music lesson and the man with
with the artistic wandering hands - Dirty Dick the art teacher whose breath was a subtle blend of regurgitated kebab, discreet nips of whisky and Capstan unfiltered cigarettes. Your diary entry has
opened a delightful Pandora's Box of teenage memories but your experience of Russian dictionaries is in a league of its own. No wonder Stalin was so bad tempered. More please asap
Loved it - dying to know where they go - if anywhere. Brings back memories of my young brother aged 18 or so who left to go round the world and ended up in Dundee!
Thanks, Alison. Pleased you enjoyed it. This novel is going to be loosely autobiographical. I still remember getting this same careers advice from the headie the day I walked out. I learnt later a whole bunch of guys became submarine technicians that year. Most quit the job soon after. Hope things worked out well for your brother in Dundee!
A most vivid description of a scholarly hell-hole! Most schools were grim+++. At the other extreme, I started school at a two-roomed village primary and was taught to read by a girl-pupil aged about nine. Truly progressive! Btw, the Russian dictionaries were indeed solid.
Feel I've lived this at one of Edinburgh's roughest and toughest primary schools in the 60s and Scotland's biggest comprehensive in the 70s. The sense of injustice, anger and powerlessness....
Can't wait to see if he gets away... and will his pal join him???
Thanks, Susan. Did leave a reply a while back, but can’t see it. Assume I pressed a wrong button! Still having problems navigating Substack. Glad you’re enjoying it. Yes, it is shocking to look back on how we were treated then in school. I was in much smaller schools, state primary and secondary. Pretty grim all-round. Glad the story moves on to livelier times! On the plus side, in class I was taught to read by a girl only a few years older than myself. Genuine pupil-centred teaching.
I'm interested nowadays when I look back at the reaction of the classmates. Implicit was the knowledge that it was pointless saying anything because no-one would be interested.
However a palpable feeling of a wrong having been committed resulted in a kind of empathy and solidarity which bonded the kids. Respect for the teacher flew out the window never to return.
My apologies, Susan, I left a reply to you somewhere in Substack, but not sure how to find it again and if you’ve found it at all.
Yes, ‘pointless’ just about sums up my whole school experience, with a few good teachers standing out as shining exceptions to this. What was learned was despite the bad ones. And the sense of injustice was certainly shared with friends on a good day, on a bad day the sense of alienation could be overwhelming. I was so very glad to leave!
And this was in a country town! In Russian, the girls got to hit the boy in front on the head with a Russian dictionary if he gave the teacher a wrong answer. Early version of pupil-centred teaching.
Now working on what happens next. We’ll all find out in a fortnight!
As an alumni of Glasgow's notorious Hardlad Senior Secondary your diary entry brought back many happy memories - polling (don't ask), Miss Deagan the music teacher, rechristened 'Miss Dragon' because she was fond of belting 3 or 4 victims at the end of every music lesson and the man with
with the artistic wandering hands - Dirty Dick the art teacher whose breath was a subtle blend of regurgitated kebab, discreet nips of whisky and Capstan unfiltered cigarettes. Your diary entry has
opened a delightful Pandora's Box of teenage memories but your experience of Russian dictionaries is in a league of its own. No wonder Stalin was so bad tempered. More please asap
Loved it - dying to know where they go - if anywhere. Brings back memories of my young brother aged 18 or so who left to go round the world and ended up in Dundee!
Thanks, Alison. Pleased you enjoyed it. This novel is going to be loosely autobiographical. I still remember getting this same careers advice from the headie the day I walked out. I learnt later a whole bunch of guys became submarine technicians that year. Most quit the job soon after. Hope things worked out well for your brother in Dundee!
A most vivid description of a scholarly hell-hole! Most schools were grim+++. At the other extreme, I started school at a two-roomed village primary and was taught to read by a girl-pupil aged about nine. Truly progressive! Btw, the Russian dictionaries were indeed solid.
Captures it perfectly.
Thanks, Marion. It does bring the memories flooding back. The good and the bad…
Feel I've lived this at one of Edinburgh's roughest and toughest primary schools in the 60s and Scotland's biggest comprehensive in the 70s. The sense of injustice, anger and powerlessness....
Can't wait to see if he gets away... and will his pal join him???
Thanks, Susan. Did leave a reply a while back, but can’t see it. Assume I pressed a wrong button! Still having problems navigating Substack. Glad you’re enjoying it. Yes, it is shocking to look back on how we were treated then in school. I was in much smaller schools, state primary and secondary. Pretty grim all-round. Glad the story moves on to livelier times! On the plus side, in class I was taught to read by a girl only a few years older than myself. Genuine pupil-centred teaching.
I'm interested nowadays when I look back at the reaction of the classmates. Implicit was the knowledge that it was pointless saying anything because no-one would be interested.
However a palpable feeling of a wrong having been committed resulted in a kind of empathy and solidarity which bonded the kids. Respect for the teacher flew out the window never to return.
My apologies, Susan, I left a reply to you somewhere in Substack, but not sure how to find it again and if you’ve found it at all.
Yes, ‘pointless’ just about sums up my whole school experience, with a few good teachers standing out as shining exceptions to this. What was learned was despite the bad ones. And the sense of injustice was certainly shared with friends on a good day, on a bad day the sense of alienation could be overwhelming. I was so very glad to leave!
Brings back all the joys of Scottish schools in the 60s. It really was that bad.
Wasn’t it just! Worse even.
Thanks. Yes and was seen as normal!