Following on from my last post, I was reminded of a memory of my school days.
My favourite subject was Art at school. I think that I was reasonably good at it { I did get A Level Art a year early } so, as an eleven year old starting Senior School, I was looking forward to my Art classes.
I went to a very academic school where Art was thought to be the Devil Incarnate. It was a large Grammar School with over a thousand pupils and there were only two Art teachers. Mr. C. was our art teacher for the first five years .{ I'm not sure of the protocol of naming people { even though I'm sure he is dead by now } so I will refer to him as Mr. C.} He was a short, portly man who, to an eleven year old, seemed pretty old but he was probably in his late forties. He had a moustache, wore a threadbare tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, stained trousers { relevant !!! } half concealed by his chalk soiled black gown. His crowning glory was a comb-over of a few greasy hairs.
Embarking on the art assignment he had given us, we would all be at our desks, busily attempting to produce something equal to Rembrandt. After ten minutes into the class, Mr. C. would rise from his desk at the front of the class and begin to walk around the desks to scrutinise our work. All of the girls knew what was coming ...... he would come up to us in turn, look at our work and offer advice, putting his arm around and over our shoulders and then, he would touch us up ! He did it to all of the girls. He never went any further { well, not to me or my friends } . It was just part of our school life and we all used to tell him to 'get off ' and would laugh about him after class. It didn't affect me in anyway apart from us schoolgirls laughing about him and calling him a dirty old man, but can you imagine what would happen to him nowadays ? .... and rightly so. None of us ever reported him, we just brushed it off.
It was that thought of, if we reported him, it was his word against ours and no-one ever believed a schoolgirl over a teacher so it just wasn't worth it. I still see a friend who was with me at school and we often reminisce about pervy Mr.C.
I wonder what happened to him and if he ever paid for his misdemeanours ?
We did have the other Art teacher in the sixth form but he was useless ! My school didn't pull the stops out when it came to Art ! My friend, who failed her 11 plus, went to a brand new Secondary Modern school which had the best art department and art teachers and she went onto Art School and became a wonderful potter and Art teacher.
I think I might have done better to have failed my 11 plus ! { although, I did have a very good education apart from the art }
XXXX
