Swotting and Lazy Crazy Days

I mostly was a diligent and obedient scholar, but as a Gemini, the naughty me showed her face at times, especially once the tweens hit.

🍓🐧 Řυ𝓇ａㄥ 𝔰ᶜＨ𝕆𝕠ｌ 💣🍧

My best school years were at a farm school, on a forestry station deep in the mountains of the Eastern Cape. The path to school was through a forest of bluegum and pine trees. I still remember the smell of that forest, and how the pine sap became our chewing gum.
The only things we were afraid of were snakes and baboons; no violent crimes in that magical place.

The headmaster, an excellent dedicated teacher who, when I look back, thought outside the box, also taught the entire school of 18 pupils!

We were taught how to grow vegetables, from preparing raised beds, sowing seeds, and tending our very own patches of vegetables. That was not part of the school curriculum, but we learned that in order for that tiny seed to grow, we needed to tend those seeds.
I loved the gardening lessons, the smell of the soil and finally harvesting my own vegetables that I proudly took home.

Priceless lessons and memories!

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ CHEWING GUM ♥

Fast forward to the city, I will never forgive myself for placing real chewing gum on our class teacher's chair.
To top it all, I was his pet, a dear teddy bear of a man who forgave me as I confessed in front of the whole class!
I'm sure his wife was not impressed though, as that chewing gum must have been difficult to get out.

ＬＩＮＥＳ

The voice that came from nowhere would taunt me and get me into all kinds of trouble, punishment in primary school meant having to write out lines till your fingers cramp up - 50, 100, or even more, if the teacher was a tad sadistic.

Ｉ ＷＩＬＬ ＮＯＴ ＴＨＲＯＷ ＰＡＰＥＲ ＰＬＡＮＥＳ ＩＮ ＴＨＥ ＣＬＡＳＳＲＯＯＭ
Ｉ ＷＩＬＬ ＮＯＴ ＴＨＲＯＷ ＰＡＰＥＲ ＰＬＡＮＥＳ ＩＮ ＴＨＥ ＣＬＡＳＳＲＯＯＭ
Ｉ ＷＩＬＬ ＮＯＴ ＴＨＲＯＷ ＰＡＰＥＲ ＰＬＡＮＥＳ ＩＮ ＴＨＥ ＣＬＡＳＳＲＯＯＭ

I know that's what boys usually do, but hey, it was fun, so why not, except when it landed in the teacher's beehive hairstyle!

Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash

T҉H҉E҉ ҉ ҉S҉I҉C҉K҉R҉O҉O҉M҉

Fast forward to high school. When my best friend and I wanted to play truant the best place to hide was the sickroom.
We weren't in the same class, otherwise, we would not have gotten away with our tricks for so long.

My excuse mostly was a sinus headache; hayfever had its benefits, so I managed to fool the kind secretary.

You poor child, I know exactly how painful sinus can be.

I did feel guilty afterward, and paid for my sins years later, as sinus indeed troubled me for a long while ;)

My friend's excuse always was period pains, and one day as I was taken into the sickroom, she was lying there sobbing.
I was quite startled, but as soon as the sympathetic secretary walked out, my friend burst out laughing, and we both ended up in fits of laughter.

That was the day our sick room visits came to an end, and landed us both in detention.

NOI⊥NƎ⊥Ǝᗡ

Detention after school was for serious misconduct, and only happened to me that one time, as I missed the school bus and had to face the wrath of my tiny Mom Lily; dynamite comes in small packages, not so! My gentle giant Dad Malan, who I could twist around my little finger, would always calm Mom down.

Don't get me wrong, I mostly was a model pupil, knuckled down when I had to, but knew how to get up to mischief when the naughty me showed up, and always asked my Dad to sign the teacher's letter.

I find history fascinating, but failing a test by one mark because I could not remember a specific date, simply was not fair.
Here in South Africa, history was censored, some books banned, and we were taught what the Apartheid government wanted us to know, or not to know!

All I ever wanted was to be grown up; not have to do homework, and study something that was of no interest in parrot fashion.

Of course, I was in for a rude awakening, as adulthood was not as glamorous as I thought it would be.

ცųƖƖყıŋɠ

I almost became the victim of bullying when a girl from a catty clique walked up to me and said something really nasty.
I was hurt by this unprovoked attack, but my young uncle, who was my role model, sat me down and explained where it came from - envy, because I was happy, did well at school (yep, despite being naughty at times) had a good circle of friends, and was a real softie; the perfect prey!

Bullying is an ugly destructive act done by children/ adults who lack self-esteem, and can scar someone for life, a scourge that needs to be addressed by the educational system!

In fact, there are many life skills that need to form part of a school curriculum, but I would keep you here for a looong time if I started digging into that subject!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my memories and remember that education never ends; we learn something new until the day we finally close our eyes, so if there's something new you want to tackle #silverbloggers, it's never too late!

This is my contribution to this month's #bom - EDUCATION where the following questions were asked:

We want to hear about Education.
The Future - what would be your ideal curriculum for the next generation?
AND/OR
Call back the Past - funny stories or life lessons learned.

Original Content by @lizelle
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