I’m asking myself questions and often I go off on a tangent, but that’s my purpose. My method of jogging my memory before it all fades.
For me, as I was not made to do any chores, it was mostly math. I truly disliked math homework. Somehow my brain had to work so much harder when there were numbers involved. It didn’t appeal to me and didn’t come naturally to me the way words do.
I hated doing math corrections and re corrections as primary school kid with overly strict teachers.
I did feel a sense of pride when I got an A1 in the subject for O levels thanks to my own Papa’s untiring efforts. The best way he taught was fractions using Cadbury chocolate. And yes we ate the teaching devices.
I also hated second language and any homework related to it. The majority of Tamil teachers were abusive and poked fun at us for not being competent and having in their view, weird accents. If they did what they did today they would have criminal records. That’s all I will say right now about the abuse as it’s an unpleasant draining thing to write about and basically relive. Being a witness to abuse was horrible too. My heart aches for my classmates who were boys who got it the worst.
It was definitely not so much the language which can be complex and beautiful, but the teachers who made us feel fear and shame.
This is because when it was taught (language of instruction) as part of Sunday religious class we enjoyed it. The teachers were caring and praised us for good penmenship. They also let us play and have fun and it wasn’t regimental.
I find that schools never reward kind teachers and all the politics makes these brilliant wonderful souls leave the profession. Children then were left in the charge of many devilish ones who didn’t truly love children and were in fact sadistic.
Generally my teachers in secondary school (girls’ school) were a world apart and instilled a love of learning. So it really depends on your luck and when you were born. I think teachers these days have rules and laws to abide that are protective of children, as it should be. I will always advocate for more when it comes to the rights of children.