FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I suffered at the hands of a teacher, so I made sure that my own children did not

ITo do something like this is atrocious. Teachers in school are the custodians of our young and should set a good example. I thought these things only happened in the old days, when the state schools were run by the religious orders and you daren’t question what a teacher said — or did.

I went to a lovely school and loved my days there. My best friend is still the one I had in school and there are a group of us who were in the same class who keep in constant touch via WhatsApp.

But in school we had one teacher who put you in the storeroom as punishment. If you did not do all your homework, you were put in the storeroom. If you dared to question her about anything at all, be it to do with the lesson or not, you were put in the storeroom. If you were late for class, you were put in the storeroom.

So when we had a six minute walk between the music room and her class, we invariably ended up in the storeroom with the over-head projector, easels, maps, etc. Because I was one of five doing music, we ended up in the storeroom at least three days per week.

Our classmates used to put stools in there for us before she arrived so we did not have to stand for the entire 45 minutes. We were locked in by the teacher for the duration of the class. We tried to explain why we would be late coming from the music lesson, but to no avail. Even so, we did not question what this teacher did. We learned to brush off with bravado our low marks in Geography. How can you learn when you are locked in a store room? We never told anyone — not the principal, and certainly not our parents. We were made to feel that we got our just desserts and suffered the humiliation this teacher meted out to us. Y EARS after I left school, I mentioned what happened to my parents who were horrified. They could not understand why none of us had told our parents who would have complained. But we were afraid and this is likely why I do not like confined spaces to this day.

Once I attended a 20 year reunion when the same teacher approached me. She asked about a recent award the restaurant had received, and how business was. I turned and asked if she was still locking children in storerooms as I felt then that I was her equal. When she replied that ‘they were different times’, I simply said that if I had told my parents she would never have been let teach again. I could have told her she is the reason I can barely read a map, or that I have had to teach myself so many things I should have learned in her classroom.

But I looked at this person with pity and moved on.

As a result I always asked my own children how their day in school was and if anything happened — good and bad. I never wanted them to suffer any indignities at the hands of a teacher like I did. WAS shocked and horrified to read the story of a teacher who allegedly put sticky tape across students mouths to make them stop talking in class.