On Monday 12 November, thousands of Year 11 high school students sat NCEA Level 1 English - one of a raft of national high school examinations taken by 15-18 year olds. That evening my cousin Laurence and his wife Jane phoned from Auckland. While supervising that English exam, Jane had picked up the resource booklet accompanying the questions. When she read a piece from Somebodies and Nobodies, a book by New Zealand poet, author and environmentalist Brian Turner, she nearly fell off her chair in surprise. The passage is about Brian's days at Otago Boys' High School in 1950s Dunedin. Here is the greater part of what Jane read. (Subhead is mine.) Learn to be men Here (OBHS) a boy had to to fight for himself, stand on his own two feet. 'Men' were those who could take 'their medicine' and bear up uncomplainingly. Very Darwinian; not a caring environment, as is said today. It was clear to me why some boys called the school "Colditz Castle". I found some of the teachers memorable; a few were imtimidating at times. "Black Mac" McInnes taught Latin. He was brusque, acerbic, occasionally witty and sometimes mean and nasty. M.G. McInnes taught at Boys' High for over 40 years and was a fixture by the time I turned up; no wonder he seemed to be only going through the motions. I learnt that the Romans spent quite a lot of time outside of Italy, in Britain and in Gaul. My father, peeking in a textbook, looked at me and said, "Gaul: the Romans certainly had a lot of that". Mac had us chanting verbs, starting with amo, amas, amat. He threw chalk at inattentive boys. A few miscreants were given cuts on the hand with the cane. One boy was told to bend overand put his head under the desk. A whack from the cane caused the victim's head to jerk up and the back of his swede clunked the wood. Someone said Mac was too familiar with the habits of the Romans. I could have kicked him in his declensions. But a fair few of the boys thought his disciplinary methods funny; probably a reaction borne of the personal relief that someone else, not them, was being beaten. My father Black Mac was my father - uncle to Laurence and Jane. No wonder they phoned me. I'd met Brian Turner's account before, soon after the book was published. They hadn't. At the time I had cringed a bit, but laughed. That was just Turner's view. Clearly, Dad, as a school teacher of his time, in a school of that severe Scots tradition, had come across like that. After all, teaching is a bit of a performance. All teachers take on a role as they walk though the school gates. In a public exam? Published in a book people can buy if they wish, is one thing. Published in a national exam paper that all entrants and many parents read, and that all schools use, is another. Laurence and Jane were particularly bothered about the possible affect on my grandchildren. Jane's first question was, "Have you got anyone sitting Level 1 this year?" "No". "Thank God." The older ones could have faced that story had it been chosen a year or two ago. And the younger ones will be exposed to it as practice papers in future. My daughters agree with Laurie and Jane. One of them is already in contact with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority which runs these exams. Does that body have a 'duty of care' when it chooses an extract referring to a clear historical identity ? I think so. As a minimum step why didn't they use a pseudonym? Responsibility for the past Do I, a son, have any responsibility for what my father did? Do any children? Do I owe Brian Turner an apology for the way my father behaved? Sometimes people and groups do apologise for behaviour of an earlier generation - the Australian Government to indigenous Australians, 2008, or the New Zealand Government to the Parihaka people, 2017. Because my case is personal, is it any different in principle from a government case? So should I ? A disconnect At home my father was never 'mean and nasty' - not once. Why was he at school? He didn't cane me. Why did he cane at school? I think we all have disconnects of that sort. Values and practices in some parts of our lives are disconnected from, or even contradict, values and practices in other parts. Cultural dictatorship Caning had been done for years. One of the main reasons for the disconnect is cultural dictatorship. It's allied to Bob Marley's mental slavery of which I wrote in an earlier post. We are so easily overwhelmed by values, trends and practices around us. What a pity we don't examine them more. It would never have occurred to my father to challenge them. In my early years it didn't occur to me. So what about my father? I loved and admired Dad - despite his treatment of Brian Turner and Brian's mates! And the side Brian shows wasn't the only side. Dad was a pipe smoking character of his day. Black Mac. He was devoted to Otago Boys High School. Boys' summer camps during the great depression, then the endless football and cricket, plus the regular teaching formed his life's work. I remember his lonely sadness when he gave it up. John McInnes 28 November 2018 Colditz ? ##########
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