Underpass
I think it was Winston Churchill who once said that he had not gone through school so much as gone under it. It is a flimsy strand to join oneself to such a renowned figure, but it is one nevertheless — for to this day, I am quite bemused as to how I survived school.
About the earliest memory I have of learning anything was through the agency of my mother. This lady has always had a soft spot for me, I think because I was her first child. I remember her pointing at things and naming them. I remember reading the beautiful books of Richard Scarry with her, and making her turn the pages.
I think this kind of thing is what builds an underpass. A fair number of us don't need to go through school much. All we need is concerned parents who are able to teach us how to find out and use and apply whatever we need to. The problem, and the tragedy, is that there are so few such parents, although most would want to be like that.
The greatest gift of my entire learning life was to have parents who could build that underpass for me. I never needed school except for its paper qualifications. I don't think I am being arrogant here; I think I am being honest. And I will always thank my parents for that, because it is true.
About the earliest memory I have of learning anything was through the agency of my mother. This lady has always had a soft spot for me, I think because I was her first child. I remember her pointing at things and naming them. I remember reading the beautiful books of Richard Scarry with her, and making her turn the pages.
I think this kind of thing is what builds an underpass. A fair number of us don't need to go through school much. All we need is concerned parents who are able to teach us how to find out and use and apply whatever we need to. The problem, and the tragedy, is that there are so few such parents, although most would want to be like that.
The greatest gift of my entire learning life was to have parents who could build that underpass for me. I never needed school except for its paper qualifications. I don't think I am being arrogant here; I think I am being honest. And I will always thank my parents for that, because it is true.
etched with acid at 1:41:00 am
2 Comments:
so..... your time spent at school could actually have been put to better things?
LR: oh, certainly; I say this with intellectual certainty because it is the nature of humanity that there is always something better to do :) that is why godliness alone is poorer than godliness with contentment, for example.
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