Post by cabbyjohn on May 5, 2011 15:35:20 GMT -1
I went to a pretty tough inner city school. Some of the pupils were rough and tough, but a lot of the teachers were rougher and tougher! One teacher who shall remain nameless was quite a jovial man, until you crossed him, and then he was more than capable of giving you a punch in the head, or he would bounce the blackboard duster off your bonce. His aim from the length of the classroom was deadly.
Nowadays some of the punishment meted out to us pupils back then by some of the teachers would merit, certainly the sack, if not an appearance in court. In those days we would simply shrug it off as part of the daily grind of school life. If you got Six of the best", once the stinging had receded you gained a kind of street cred for having had the dreaded six!
We softies could only look on in admiration at the class toughs who wore their punishment like a badge of honour. Whilst at the same time making sure that we never did anything bad enough to join that hallowed band.
However there was one teacher who although we didn't realise it at the time, was a truly vocational teacher who taught most of us in the year or so that we were in his class, virtually everything we learned at that school. Whenever there is a chance meeting of old pupils from my old school, the one teachers name that is mentioned with reverence is that of Mr. Murray. Frank Murray to us boys, but never to his face or within his hearing.
He was a very mild mannered bespectacled man, he always wore a brown or green tweed suit and we never heard him raise his voice, unlike the other teachers who would scream and shout at us.
Each morning he would enter the classroom to total silence and anounce very quietly. " Don't upset me today boys, my ulcer is playing me up". This set the tone for the day. We knew to behave or else.
At the start of each lesson selected boys would go to his desk, a large science desk, the kind that you would have in a science lab. (There was a bunsen burner screwed to the desk, and the only science lesson that I can remember was that he would light it now and again. He must have told us why, but that knowledge is long lost in the mists of time).
The appointed boys would remove the exercise book from Mr. Murrays drawer and proceed to hand them out. As the pile of books grew smaller, those of us who hadn't been handed ours back from the last lesson grew more despondant. Eventually when the last book had been handed out, Mr. Murray would very quietly ask, "If there is anybody who hasn't got their book, come out and see if it's in my drawer". We poor unfortunate souls would trudge to his desk and retrieve our books, upon which he would ask us to open them up at the last lesson.
When the book was opened, mine at least would be covered with ink blots, (This was in the days of pen and ink), and red crossing out of the previous weeks work. " Can you see anything wrong with it"? He would ask. To which we would forlornly reply "no Sir".
After pointing out the errors to us, he would select a cane from his other drawer. These canes were bamboo and about 18 inches long and stocky. Rumour had it that he had the canes specially made by fiendish chinese torturers and bought them in bulk especially for us. He would then proceed to hold our wrists firmly, the reason for this being that many years previously on a particularly robust downward swing, the pupil had pulled his hand away at the last minute and Frank had taken the full force of the cane on his knee. The cane stung more than any other teachers cane stung, I suspect that it was because he did it in such a mild mannered way, but when he hit you, you knew that you had been hit.
However every pupil who ever passed through his class will only look back on their time with him with fondness, and will truthfully say that he above all others taught us what little we learned at that school.
He was also the only adult who ever gave most of us 11 and 12 year old boys our one and only sex education lesson. Being a Catholic school I think he was a bit embarrassed. He qietly said to us one day. "You boys are now of an age when the Devil will put evil thoughts in your heads to tempt you, and you may want to do things with your hands. DON'T! It's a sin and God is watching you"!
There must be lots of Manmates members who have a memory of their favourite teacher that they can share with us. lets hear some of them from you?
Nowadays some of the punishment meted out to us pupils back then by some of the teachers would merit, certainly the sack, if not an appearance in court. In those days we would simply shrug it off as part of the daily grind of school life. If you got Six of the best", once the stinging had receded you gained a kind of street cred for having had the dreaded six!
We softies could only look on in admiration at the class toughs who wore their punishment like a badge of honour. Whilst at the same time making sure that we never did anything bad enough to join that hallowed band.
However there was one teacher who although we didn't realise it at the time, was a truly vocational teacher who taught most of us in the year or so that we were in his class, virtually everything we learned at that school. Whenever there is a chance meeting of old pupils from my old school, the one teachers name that is mentioned with reverence is that of Mr. Murray. Frank Murray to us boys, but never to his face or within his hearing.
He was a very mild mannered bespectacled man, he always wore a brown or green tweed suit and we never heard him raise his voice, unlike the other teachers who would scream and shout at us.
Each morning he would enter the classroom to total silence and anounce very quietly. " Don't upset me today boys, my ulcer is playing me up". This set the tone for the day. We knew to behave or else.
At the start of each lesson selected boys would go to his desk, a large science desk, the kind that you would have in a science lab. (There was a bunsen burner screwed to the desk, and the only science lesson that I can remember was that he would light it now and again. He must have told us why, but that knowledge is long lost in the mists of time).
The appointed boys would remove the exercise book from Mr. Murrays drawer and proceed to hand them out. As the pile of books grew smaller, those of us who hadn't been handed ours back from the last lesson grew more despondant. Eventually when the last book had been handed out, Mr. Murray would very quietly ask, "If there is anybody who hasn't got their book, come out and see if it's in my drawer". We poor unfortunate souls would trudge to his desk and retrieve our books, upon which he would ask us to open them up at the last lesson.
When the book was opened, mine at least would be covered with ink blots, (This was in the days of pen and ink), and red crossing out of the previous weeks work. " Can you see anything wrong with it"? He would ask. To which we would forlornly reply "no Sir".
After pointing out the errors to us, he would select a cane from his other drawer. These canes were bamboo and about 18 inches long and stocky. Rumour had it that he had the canes specially made by fiendish chinese torturers and bought them in bulk especially for us. He would then proceed to hold our wrists firmly, the reason for this being that many years previously on a particularly robust downward swing, the pupil had pulled his hand away at the last minute and Frank had taken the full force of the cane on his knee. The cane stung more than any other teachers cane stung, I suspect that it was because he did it in such a mild mannered way, but when he hit you, you knew that you had been hit.
However every pupil who ever passed through his class will only look back on their time with him with fondness, and will truthfully say that he above all others taught us what little we learned at that school.
He was also the only adult who ever gave most of us 11 and 12 year old boys our one and only sex education lesson. Being a Catholic school I think he was a bit embarrassed. He qietly said to us one day. "You boys are now of an age when the Devil will put evil thoughts in your heads to tempt you, and you may want to do things with your hands. DON'T! It's a sin and God is watching you"!
There must be lots of Manmates members who have a memory of their favourite teacher that they can share with us. lets hear some of them from you?
