Blimey, the wordpress people try hard with their ideas to stop us having nothing to write about everyday – for that I am very grateful. So I started a list..identifying ‘education’ as the formal bit………
things I would have changed…..
1. My hopeless physics teacher, who could not teach a piece of chalk and who never even noticed when we all crept out of the class one day when she writing things on the blackboard,
2. Someone might have picked up that I am mildly dyslexic. Formal education was a real struggle for me, and all I got was criticism about my messy writing and my terrible spelling and my non-existant short term memory.
3. That I did not have to choose between art and music at school for O ‘ level ( bummer -by the way, I chose art!).
4. That one teacher, friend or family member had asked me to stay at my school into the sixth form (as I had decided that was all it would take, no-one did so I went to the local 6th form college where the choice of subjects I could do were completely bananas).
5. That the majority of my teachers at sixth form college were in the pub most of the time, and did not give a flying ferk if we passed or failed.
6. That someone would have sat with me while I practiced the piano, and that anyone had explained WHY practice was a wonderfully valuable thing.
But then I shrug and get all philosophical and think that it all happened for a reason. If I had not failed my A levels first time round ( and why was I doing economic history when I can’t remember dates?) I would never have spent 4 months in India with my mother and never experienced dancing and singing with my eyes closed, and meditation, which was probably the best education I have ever had. “Work like you don’t need money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching.” The educational path I took was a wobbly one, but it all worked out in the end. I stress that to anyone who feels like they are taking a wiggly learning path through life, it usually is for lesson which will be valuable, if you are open and see most of life as ‘lessons’ and a way of learning something it will be rich and plentiful. Lessons come from the most unexpected places….usually not in main stream education at all.
Oh…that was a bit deep for a Monday morning.
SONG OF THE DAY – Miten and Deval Premal – So Much Magnificence
We used to sing this song in India as part of a singing mediation session, for long long periods of time, so you would become quite blissed out. It is one of my favourites. Not my usual pop stuff that is for sure.
Just catching up…mine include:
1. Giving up whatever-sewing-was-called-in-those-days just because I didn’t like the teacher, only to find she would not be doing the O level next year anyway. Sewing/textiles was linked to art/music so they both went!
2. Doing geography. I only retained a smattering of rock formations and weather and details about Brazil – the family still tease me about my lack of world knowledge, capital cities etc and the U classification I ‘gained’!
3. Feeling hard done to about moving schools at the time, due to Dad’s work. I realised a few years later it was the making of me and I am recently back in touch with some old school mates anyway.