I’m writing this as a failure of my parents, due to the circumstances at the time, to not see that I received an education…. because, I would never say I was a failure. However, I could say my education very much was.
I attended a small school in the country along with my siblings. The one teacher school taught prep to grade six. For some reason, my father decided I was to stay on at this school to do Grade 7 and Grade 8 as I was needed to milk cows while my brothers carted hay. Out of a family of three boys and three girls, I was the only girl who would go to the dairy and milk cows.
Who was I to argue with my father?
As you can imagine, the teacher then had to give, or try to give, me harder work than was possible from a small state school. I don’t remember my schoolwork from that time, but I’m sure it wasn’t as hard as what was taught at high school, or the convent.
On completion of those two years spent at the state school I was sent on to complete my education at the convent in town, fifteen miles away. I was placed in class to repeat Grade 8, or Form Two as it was known.
What a shock to discover subjects that I had never heard of. Just some that I recall – Geometry, Algebra, Latin and French. How was I to deal with these dreadful subjects after missing the first year of them? By the end of the year, after a dreadful fail, I was placed up to Form Three to be humiliated yet again, with more of the same dreadful subjects. At the end of the year I was glad to walk out the gates, and not look back.
I would never say I was a failure, but I strongly believe my education was. I went on to hold down many jobs over many years in the work force. I was the bookkeeper in one of my first jobs, a job I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve worked in supermarkets on checkouts. I’ve worked in a nursing home in the kitchen, laundry and as a cleaner.
And… I married and raised four children.
I believe, had I been given the education I should have been given, I may have been a nurse.
My other passion was hairdressing. I have been known to cut hair when someone needs their hair cut. My niece wanted to give me job in her business, as she thought that I was a hairdresser.
I’m also very proud to have taught myself to play a keyboard, to have a group which helps me to entertain the lovely residents in nursing homes around Benalla.
So, I’ve turned my failed education into the will to achieve. To develop myself. To be self-determining. To put behind me those awful years I call my horrible school years and just get on with life.
I’m left wondering, however, what I could have achieved had I had a better education.
Trish Rogash,
March 2023
I attended a small school in the country along with my siblings. The one teacher school taught prep to grade six. For some reason, my father decided I was to stay on at this school to do Grade 7 and Grade 8 as I was needed to milk cows while my brothers carted hay. Out of a family of three boys and three girls, I was the only girl who would go to the dairy and milk cows.
Who was I to argue with my father?
As you can imagine, the teacher then had to give, or try to give, me harder work than was possible from a small state school. I don’t remember my schoolwork from that time, but I’m sure it wasn’t as hard as what was taught at high school, or the convent.
On completion of those two years spent at the state school I was sent on to complete my education at the convent in town, fifteen miles away. I was placed in class to repeat Grade 8, or Form Two as it was known.
What a shock to discover subjects that I had never heard of. Just some that I recall – Geometry, Algebra, Latin and French. How was I to deal with these dreadful subjects after missing the first year of them? By the end of the year, after a dreadful fail, I was placed up to Form Three to be humiliated yet again, with more of the same dreadful subjects. At the end of the year I was glad to walk out the gates, and not look back.
I would never say I was a failure, but I strongly believe my education was. I went on to hold down many jobs over many years in the work force. I was the bookkeeper in one of my first jobs, a job I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve worked in supermarkets on checkouts. I’ve worked in a nursing home in the kitchen, laundry and as a cleaner.
And… I married and raised four children.
I believe, had I been given the education I should have been given, I may have been a nurse.
My other passion was hairdressing. I have been known to cut hair when someone needs their hair cut. My niece wanted to give me job in her business, as she thought that I was a hairdresser.
I’m also very proud to have taught myself to play a keyboard, to have a group which helps me to entertain the lovely residents in nursing homes around Benalla.
So, I’ve turned my failed education into the will to achieve. To develop myself. To be self-determining. To put behind me those awful years I call my horrible school years and just get on with life.
I’m left wondering, however, what I could have achieved had I had a better education.
Trish Rogash,
March 2023