By Omilla Mungroo. This is in tribute to the retired teachers of the St Joseph Government Primary School who taught between 1972 and 1978: Mrs P Belmar, Ms Martin, Ms D Punch, Ms M Grenaway, Ms Chase, Ms Peters, Mr Gill, and then principal Mr Martin (deceased).
A tribute to all who ran things
When school days were indeed happy days:
- Nobody raised their voices to protest when being disciplined.
- The only crime was writing on the desks.
- Not a squeak when you get a strap across your back, perhaps for talking in class or chewing gum or just clowning around.
- Discipline was a non-issue in schools.
- Parents parented.
- Neighbours lived like family and you couldn’t break beech, somebody must see you and tell your parents.
- Sir or Miss came home to visit once in a while and knew your parents well.
- No knife attack or fighting.
- You had to line up in the hot sun and stand straight as a needle.
- Finger nail inspection every morning.
- Uniform inspection every morning.
- You walked to your classrooms in single file.
- You were taken outside lots of times to recite and memorise times tables and spelling and vocabulary.
- Shoes were to be clean always, both boys’ and girls’ shoes.
- Not a protest for any raise in salary.
Yuh think it sorf? All of a sudden teaching get hard!
June 2015 – Issue 16 www.sweettntmagazine.com
Active Learning in the Classroom
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