like sands through the hourglass so are the days of bek...part 4

Choosing the new school.

When we moved over to Perth we had to (obviously) choose a new school to attend. Since it was only my brother and I at school at the time, we got to go with mum and dad to look 2 schools.
We went and had a look at Thornlie Primary School and also Thornlie Christian College. We went to the public school first. It was just like (similar anyway) our school in Cairns. Except in Cairns you could get away with not wearing any shoes all day (it was too hot). Robert loved it. I don’t know why, but I just remember when we left the school, Robert was sold. We then went to Thornlie Christian College. The students had their own individual desks and they had dividers up.

I loved it because it was something different and it seemed really exciting. We took a vote, I voted for the private school, Robert for the public. In the end mum and dad made the final decision and we ended up going to the Private school.
All of the schoolwork was done at your own PACE – hence the name pace books. You got little workbooks on all different subjects. Math, English, Word Building, Social Studies, Science, etc. These books had numbers and the quicker you finished a book, the quicker you could go to the next book up. You had to set weekly goals for how many chapters you would finish in each book, when you finished the test at the end of the book you would get a star on a chart for finishing that book (We had a chart for each term and you were able to see how many books you had completed for the term). The only problem with these books was you had to mark your own work and they were also mainly based on American history and teachings.
When you had completed a few pages of work you had to go to a ‘score key’ and mark your work putting crosses next to each incorrect answer, and you would have to go back, find the correct answer and then re-score.
(I know all you Thornlie-ites remember this!!)

I however, was a little cheater!! I have a really good memory, so whenever I went to the score keys I would memorise the next 2-3 pages, go back to my desk and fill them all out! I remember my Year 7 teacher telling us all "be sure your sins will find you out" and I remember stressing over getting caught! Never did :)

Back in Cairns, I was at the top of the class in my English and reading (I wasn’t really a good speller though). I remember being on Grade 3/ 4 reading books in Year 1. When I moved over to WA and started attending this school where you were on a number for your work level I lost a lot of self-esteem. I was on lower books then classmates because I hadn’t done a lot of the type of work they were doing in this school (I attended this school halfway through Grade 5). I thought I was dumb and sometimes copped teasing for being on a lower level than others. Hence, I started to put no effort in my school work because I didn’t see the point as I couldn’t catch up to others and I had no motivation sitting all by myself at my desk and forcing myself to do work. There was no class interaction and no teacher/student interaction. To get a teachers attention, we had 3 flags we could use to gain a teachers attention. The Australian Flag was used for simple questions, needing to go to the toilet, or a simple question regarding your work. There was a white flag that had a red something in the corner (cant remember what) that was used if you needed help for an extended period. The last flag was bright red. This was the emergency flag. You used it if you desperately needed help and had exhausted all other methods. I always used this one because the jolly teachers would take forever to come answer your normal flags. I’d get them over to my desk and then pounce on them with all sorts of questions.

When my sister was in Grade 1 she needed to go to the toilet. She started with the Aussie flag and the teachers wouldn’t answer it (no surprise there). So she stuck up her emergency flag because the situation became urgent and the teachers still didn’t answer the flag. She ended up peeing in her chair because the teachers were too ‘busy’ (lazy) to answer her flag and let her leave the classroom to go to the toilet.

I don’t share that story to embarrass my sister but to show you how corrupted the system was! That can be so damaging to children – wetting themselves in front of the class! Also leaving children to their own devices can also be damaging. I don’t agree with the system that school used, but thankfully when I was in Grade 11 (a little late) they abolished the curriculum and started using something else. My class was the first in the school history to start TEE and the change was dramatic. We went from teaching ourselves to having to go to a curriculum that was above and beyond what we were prepared for.

So I spent most of my time at school thinking I was an idiot and that I was never going to amount to anything much because I felt Grades lower than what I really was. I loved art but was quickly squashed by my teacher for being ‘too abstract’. I lost the friendship of my brother. He grew up and got his own friends and no longer needed me. We were best mates in Cairns and all of a sudden we were more acquaintances here in WA. Life changed and it was something I had to get used to. Everything was different. Church, school, friends, home. In Cairns I spent most of my recess and lunch on my own, but here I found myself striving for acceptance all of a sudden. I simply put it down to growing up.

Because I couldn’t lean on my intelligence at this school, I quickly developed a sense of humour to over compensate for my lack of grey matter. I took out a lot on Stunners and I quickly grew to love teasing him! IM SORRY!! You were just an easy target. I remember telling you to ‘get away hairy legs’ and I’m sorry. You’re a mate now!

There are so many stories from my school years. As I’m sure all of us have got stories. Mine grew a little dark in high school and I will post about that in my next instalment. I dabbled in lots of dodgy things (I’m sure we all did) and I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s a part of my journey and one that I will never regret – its part of who I am!

I hope you all have a great Aussie Day and that you all have safe travels!!