My wife was talking bout new clothes and new yatching boots...I tell her this is America, dem kids go to school wid they sleeping clothes

Amral posted:

All the rug rats are off, I am sure some are more than happy to go back. In our time, it was brand new clothes, new yatting  (sp) booths, new school bag, pens and pencils. My hair was slicked with Mohini Hair Oil

Rass, we had to use vaseline and walk bare foot. No school bag for boys, girls had home made bags.

I liked the scent of new textbooks at the beginning of the school year. After that I got to dislike some of them, depending on which teacher was quick with the cane. 

Gilbakka posted:

I liked the scent of new textbooks at the beginning of the school year. After that I got to dislike some of them, depending on which teacher was quick with the cane. 

I remember taking newspaper and making protective covers for the new books. I always try to sit in the last bench in the class.

skeldon_man posted:

Gilbakka posted:

I liked the scent of new textbooks at the beginning of the school year. After that I got to dislike some of them, depending on which teacher was quick with the cane. 

I remember taking newspaper and making protective covers for the new books. I always try to sit in the last bench in the class.

We had a Maths Teacher named Exeter at QC. She had bad cockeye. Whenever she asked a question you didn't know who she was asking.

To mark the start of this school year, the UK GUARDIAN newspaper has published "Top 10 Books about Teaching".

#3 is TO SIR WITH LOVE by Guyana-born ER Braithwaite. 

The full LIST

Gilbakka posted:

To mark the start of this school year, the UK GUARDIAN newspaper has published "Top 10 Books about Teaching".

#3 is TO SIR WITH LOVE by Guyana-born ER Braithwaite. 

The full LIST

I have a couple of questions. When I was a little boy back in Guyana I read Black Midas by Jan Carew. A few years ago I bought a copy to add to my library and I re-read it. For some reason there was more in this book than the one I remember reading as a boy. My first question is, was there an abridged version for schools and my second question, more of an observation, Jan Carew wrote very slightingly of Indo-Guyanese. Did anyone else get that same feeling?

GTAngler posted:

I have a couple of questions. When I was a little boy back in Guyana I read Black Midas by Jan Carew. A few years ago I bought a copy to add to my library and I re-read it. For some reason there was more in this book than the one I remember reading as a boy. My first question is, was there an abridged version for schools and my second question, more of an observation, Jan Carew wrote very slightingly of Indo-Guyanese. Did anyone else get that same feeling?

I don't know whether there was an abridged version of BLACK MIDAS. Like you, in my adult life I re-read a few books I had read as a boy. And, in the re-reading I gathered more information and understanding. Two examples: THE GUN by C.S. Forester, and THE AFRICAN QUEEN by C.S. FORESTER.

I had no problem with Jan Carew's portrayal of Indo-Guyanese characters. If Art is to imitate Life, it must reflect it dispassionately. You have to bear in mind the time period within which Indos were situated in Carew's story. A time when most girls didn't attend secondary school, and those in the labour force were doing manual work in rice and cane fields. A time when most men also did manual work, unlike now. A time when their latrines stood over trenches/canals, providing no privacy. And we have to admit that they generally spoke poor English. Naturally, in a novel the dialog of those folks couldn't be written in standard English. That some readers would laugh at them is not the writer's fault.

Hindi and Urdu was their language. They were starting to learn English which they hated but did so for reasons we all can understand.

skeldon_man posted:

Amral posted:

All the rug rats are off, I am sure some are more than happy to go back. In our time, it was brand new clothes, new yatting  (sp) booths, new school bag, pens and pencils. My hair was slicked with Mohini Hair Oil

Rass, we had to use vaseline and walk bare foot. No school bag for boys, girls had home made bags.

I was just wondering which school Amral went to.  Rass, for me was just new uniform, ribbon, socks, maybe a new bata booths and yes, a cloth bag, which my mom sew. no pen, just pencil.  i cover my exercise book with the paper that wrapped the toilet-paper roll..who remember those?   they had nice lil flower prints....until high school, when meh start get stylz n fashion, things change  ;)  

yall rass had it easy with fancy toilet paper, Iman use fo get white toilet paper and had fo colour it myself.

Cainsta, Guyana even had invisible toilet paper. 

In my primary school years 1957-1962 I wore brown yachting boots sometimes, white ones most times. Sundays I had to wash and scrub them and apply whitening to the latter. Some Sundays I flushed out my fountain pen in a cup of water and refilled cheap Lion brand ink. 

Gilbakka posted:

In my primary school years 1957-1962 I wore brown yachting boots sometimes, white ones most times. Sundays I had to wash and scrub them and apply whitening to the latter. Some Sundays I flushed out my fountain pen in a cup of water and refilled cheap Lion brand ink. 

hats off to you....uncle!  

Gilbakka posted:

In my primary school years 1957-1962 I wore brown yachting boots sometimes, white ones most times. Sundays I had to wash and scrub them and apply whitening to the latter. Some Sundays I flushed out my fountain pen in a cup of water and refilled cheap Lion brand ink. 

I remember those days.

Was it a Wearever pen?

Was there a book store on Regent Street?

I remember going shopping with my mom for books at a store in G/Town and then coming home and wrapping brown paper on the front/back covers to protect it. Vividly remember buying Shakespeare Twelfth Night and the "Crib notes" (we didn't call it crib notes, but can't recall what the name) but it was a synopsis of the book in regular English.

I can almost smell that new-book scent!

Remember my brand-new school uniform pleats ironed to knife-edged sharpness!

Wish all public schools in Canada would go back to uniforms......would remove that name-brand competition and maybe bring some decency for the high-school teenagers. My daughter who teaches high school is often shocked by the clothes worn by her students......more so that parents would allow their kids to dress that way for school. With teens raging-hormones at play, she says it is very distracting and causes a lot of 'cattiness' and bullying among the girls.