The phrase “memory is the weapon” is such a powerful one, coined by the South African writer Don Mattera, that it sits consciously in my mind when I think about education in the world, particularly in South Africa.
Schools should be vibrant places for learning. When one walks into a school, one should immediately be struck by a spirit of people wanting to expose young people to new ideas and students wanting to open themselves to the new discovery of knowledge.
In my 39 years of teaching since 1977, I always enjoyed the interaction with parents, teachers and students. I have enjoyed the many hilarious and serious moments in my teaching career. I have enjoyed various funny moments in interactions with schooling communities.
When one looks at situations in schools from the 1950s to now, much has changed. I remember a former principal in the early 1950s marching a parent to the school gate and saying, “Go home and look after your child, and leave the teaching to the teachers”. Recently, at a high school, a parent said to a teacher, “You are past your sell-by date”.
In 1985, at the height of the student boycotts to overthrow the apartheid system, a Grade 8 student knocked on my office door. He said, “Mr Isaacs, I just want to tell you the struggle knows no age.”
I had allowed the school to go to another school for a mass meeting, except the Grade 8s, because I felt they were too young.
I was sitting as a student in a Grade 12 life sciences class when a beautiful senior student knocked on the door to deliver a notice to the class. The boys in the class all had their attention on this student. The teacher said, “Chaps, only 60% water!” One student remarked, “But look at the surface tension!”
The same teacher entered our classroom and told us this story. He said he stayed behind a canal, and one morning, he heard two frogs making a noise in the canal. He peered over his fence and asked the two frogs what they were doing. Both said they were making bubbles.
A few weeks later, he again heard the noise coming from the canal. Again, he peered over his fence and asked the little frog what he was doing. The little frog said, “I am bubbles”. The teacher then went on to discuss reproduction in amphibians.
I was taught by my colleagues that teaching was like wearing a white coat with many pockets, and as you gain experience, you slip little notes into these pockets you can use at appropriate times.
I am sure all around the world, teachers use humour to bring fun into the classroom and create an environment conducive to learning. To my teaching colleagues, wear those white coats.
* Brian Isaacs.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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