Interesting Times in the Classroom

The setting was the 1978/79 School
Session.

Form 3B was epochal in teaching
approaches. Two Indian men were assigned to teach Mathematics across the four
arms of Form 3. One of them, Mr. Singh was assigned to my class, Form 3B. He
was tall, towering over us students and even dwarfing the biggest in our class.
His trademark was his immaculately styled turban, usually red, wrapped in
overlapping folds that gave him a solemn, serious, and pensive look.

Mr Singh taught Mathematics with a
distinctive style. He clearly articulated objectives, explained from first
principles, and followed up with questions or practice exercises. He would walk
around the class, checking responses as we wrote.

He had zero tolerance for slowness in
comprehension. Once he leaned over and calmly said, “I have told you, told you …,
 why you not know it?”
you knew correction was coming. We instinctively raised our hands to shield our
ears, because his huge palms would descend in quick succession with heavy slaps
on ears and cheeks. It was not funny at all.

This approach transformed us. We
learnt to take Mathematics seriously, to practice after class, and to seek
explanations from colleagues. The fear of Mr Singh’s palms was indeed the
beginning of wisdom. As the Yoruba say, “Ìròyìn ò tó àfọ̀júbà”
meaning seeing is believing.

That year (1978/1979) was a watershed.
We had great incentive to improve our Maths skills, if only to avoid those huge
palms landing on our faces. In retrospect, Mr Singh’s methods instilled
discipline. Though we might have preferred a softer approach, he got the job
done in his own way, and we were better for it.