During my childhood, teenage years and adulthood, I have had some really great teachers. I can call a few of them by name – sir Talip, Miss Roxanne Pestano, but forgive because I can’t mention them all in such a short article.
I particularly remember sir Talip, and he stands out glaringly in my mind as one of the best teachers I’ve ever head. Sir Talip really smoked that chalkboard.
I remembered the story of how I ended up in Sir Talip’s “hands.” I remember when he told my dad to transfer me from Belvedere Primary to Rose Hall Primary and leave me “in his hands.”
I was just about 9 years old at that time, but I remember all the details. And of course, my teachers from Belevedere Primary were sad to see me go.
When I first started studying with Sir Talip at Rose Hall Primary, I was both scared and amazed. The man had an intricate manner of breaking down complex mathematical problems. Then came the writing. Sir Talip would make us write for hours – much more than I was used to. Whereas at Belvedere Primary, it was customary to work 5 or 10 math exercises, Sir Talip’s quotia was 30 to 40.
By the end of the school term, I had learned so much that my love for learning was greatly accelerated, and a part of me felt sad for having to leave Sir Talip’s class – I wished I could have stayed one more year to learn the same things with even greater depth and accuracy.
But I had to move – off to high school where I met with some of the worst and most incompetent teachers ever. I suffered from the “sea saw” effect, and totally lost interest in learning.
By the time I failed my CXC exams the first time in the year 1999, I realized that if I were to pass these exams, I’d had to bury my head in my books. Since then, I realized the truth: there will not always be great teachers, but you can always rely on great books.
Use those books – learn to teach yourself.