Memories of the Academy

When I walked through the gates of Rutherglen Academy in August 1965 I was met by Jean Morrison, a fellow pupil from the Burgh School, who said “come on over Dorothy, come and join us!”

No induction days or tours then, just straight in at the deep end. It was all very confusing. From all the subjects in one classroom at primary school to rushing about from class to class and having a daily timetable to such diverse subjects as Latin and Biology.

Then there was the uniform which we were all so unused to as primary schools did not have uniforms then.

Yes, I was at the Academy in the Swinging Sixties and yes we enjoyed all the pop music of the day and the fashions from The Beatles, the Stones, The Kinks and The Monkees through to mini skirts, Flower Power and the Summer of Love, we lived through it all.

Make-up reminds me of the school’s only attempt at what was supposed to pass for sex education in the sixties.

All the girls were taken into a room with an elderly nurse and the blinds were pulled down.

All the boys remained outside. When we emerged she told the boys to admire us as we had been having a make-up lesson and didn’t we all look lovely!

We looked no different as this was all a lie.

We were all equally clueless at the end of this talk which was something to do with not sitting in cafes with boys!

Our Rector was Dr Munn otherwise known as Batman.

Almost all the teachers had nicknames from Lurch to Clara Cluck - former pupils will know exactly who they were!

The Batman tag was given to Dr Munn as he always stood in the centre of the main hall to watch out for any latecomers.

All the teachers wore their academic gowns and Dr Munn would swing round in his while on watch in the main hall so that he could see all entrances and exits.

We only had to line up in first and second year, after that we could come in directly to class individually. I was a very well behaved schoolgirl except for one or two occasions when I rebelled which nearly led to a very unfair threat of expulsion.

My threat of expulsion which would have been a huge disgrace and unthinkable was because of an incident at the Academy’s Macdonald Annexe, now the site of the new Burgh School.

It was the art class so must have been first or second year.

I was in Class 1A and then 2B so a very studious and well behaved pupil.

This particular lady teacher often left her classroom to chat in the corridor to other teachers and we were all expected to get on with our work in her absence, as I did.

Other pupils were making a bit of a noise but not me.

However, we were all given a block punishment of writing out passages from the bible. I objected to this as I had done nothing wrong and I told her I did not have a bible which was untrue. I was told I would have to write an essay on ‘why I like the school holidays.’

I wrote an essay saying I liked the school holidays because I did not have to go to school and be punished for carrying on with my work while the teacher gossiped in the corridor instead of supervising her class and seeing who was misbehaving instead of punishing everyone and giving me more to do when I already had enough homework.

I was called in by the head of the annexe whom I think was a Mr Forsyth and told that he had never read such a piece of impertinence in all his years of teaching and he would keep the essay.

Well, I hope he did because five years later I was a reporter on the East Kilbride News and won an award.

He also told me that if I disliked the school so much - I did not, I loved it there was another one at Gallowflat over the road I could go to.

Considering that we all worked very hard and passed all our exams to get into the Academy in the first place this would have been a disgrace.

I was also told that my parents would be contacted if I didn’t write a letter of apology to the female teacher.

Expulsion would have been a total disgrace as would involving parents so I reluctantly wrote the letter.

It meant a lot to get into the Academy and I certainly tried to live up to confidence in my abilities that my primary school teachers had instilled in me.

My memories of the Academy are of the pride I took in my uniform and my loyalty to the school upholding the high standards of behaviour that were expected of us, the what I now know to be the very poor teaching methods of some of the teachers, the unfair use of the belt and now the knowledge that subjects I was hopeless at in school I then became skilled in later on so the message is never give up.

The most important lesson to learn is the ability to learn and to apply myself to every task.

I was never one of the Inveralligin crowd, any sports teams, nor did I go to school dances or join any clubs. I was there to work hard, pass my exams and get the job I wanted which I did.

My final year’s report card which I still have signed by Dr Munn and countersigned by my dad states “Highly Satisfactory” with a special mention of my “very satisfactory conduct.”

The latter gave my dad more pride than all the exam marks put together and still pleases me and gives me encouragement to this day.

Dorothy Connor Rutherglen