Argus title : Heads must take control
A year or so ago, the government ran a television recruitment campaign for teachers. Various celebrities gave the name of the teacher who had influenced them most – someone they would never forget.
In my case, it was Miss Bowyer. She was a little sharp-nosed maiden lady, who taught me in my second year at Overport Government School in Durban. I was 7 years old.
I liked all my teachers. There was the terrifying Mrs Moxon who gave you stars and sweets if you did well – and hit you with a folded leather strap if you did not. We used to whisper that she reminded us of Ma Grisson in the gangster novel “No Orchids for Miss Blandish”. In the novel Ma Grisson has her head blown off by machine gun fire. But we meant no harm to Mrs Moxon. She rewarded us far more than she whacked us. Continue reading