School for Scandal

There was an interesting article in The Times yesterday, based on the subjects we did and did not learn at school, and whether there was anything which one regretted not learning.

I had a think about this and am consistent in my views of twenty years or more, that I wish I had been able to learn a language. The school was run by the Christian Brothers, so Latin was on the curriculum from year 1. I struggled with it and so dropped it in year 2 for Spanish. French was also a problem so that went by the wayside pretty quickly too.

I managed to struggle on with Spanish and sat my 'O'level, but did not pass, so all I speak now is the basic stuff....it got us around Peru, but it would be jolly useful now to be able to speak all three of those languages.


With a new daughter-in-law who speaks Portugese, and the likelihood that any grand children from that direction will also be multi-lingual, that is the language of choice for me now.....I will need to check the evening class schedule.


I suspect most of the problem was the dull and repetitive way the languages were taught in the early '60s. I might fair better with the modern language lab approach, who knows.


If I am allowed more than one choice, I would have liked to leave school being able to play a musical instrument. We did have orchestra lessons, which allowed me to learn to read music, and play the violin, but that seemed to go the same way as the language classes after a while. I plug away on the piano these days but in a crowded room I suspect I am the only one who knows what I am playing!!


It was an all boys schools, so learning a bit more about girls might have been handy as well, mind.



So what was I really pleased I learned at school? My best subject was maths, and that certainly set me up for my career in IBM so that has to be up there. I did Art through to 'A' level and that has certainly stayed with me throughout the years, although I have never been much of a painter, more a creative genius!


Rugby has opened up a world of friendships, travel opportunities and competition, the like I would have struggled to emulate at a football based school, so that was the best of the extra-curricular activities.


And there you have it....in The Times article history and geography featured with a lot of people. I was forced to make the choice for the 'O' level course between physics, chemistry, and biology or geography, history and sociology and went down the science route, but in those days you got a good grounding in all the subjects up to the age of 15 so I never felt I had missed out there.


So what were you're regrets and successes,it would be good to know?