Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
It was drummed into us in our formative years at primary school by Miss Twomey.
Although my family was Church of England, I went to the small private junior school that my Mother had gone to decades before when it was run by a Miss Smith who was of that faith. By the time I was a pupil the school was run by a Roman Catholic family and teachings were on the basis of that Faith.
Miss Twomey was the principal teacher. Miss Twomey was a witch. A pretty evil witch at that when it came to her dealings with children.
From the inception religious instruction was an important part of the curriculum. I'm sure that by the age of 6, I could recite all my prayers and several verses from various Collects and Epistle by heart.
At the tender age of 6 or 7 Miss Twomey was lecturing us on the Seven Deadly Sins and in particular the sin of Pride.
So imagine my confusion when I was told to have pride in my work.
In all innocence I asked how I could have pride in my work if that would be a sin.
You can imagine the scene, I'm sure. 73 or 74 years later I'm still standing trembling with fear in front of her as she delivered the dressing down. Unusually she didn't actually hit me.
From that moment on I hated school. Having passed the 11-Plus with flying colours I went to Quarry Bank - a smallish prestigious Grammar School much sought after by parents for their children. I was two classes behind John Lennon.
Much to my parents' distress I'm sure (they were wonderful parents and supported my decision regardless of their disappointment) I left on the first day that I was legally able to leave.
What adults say and do when you are in your impressionable years can stay with you for life, said in say ages 8 to 15. There are things I remember that are hazy because I chose not to think about about them at the time. Some bad things, but I can't say they affected my life.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I was fortunate in that I had a pretty happy and safe childhood at home and even in primary school I fared a lot better than many others in the same school.
DeleteEverything I read about those schools where religion was of uppermost concern seems to indicate they resembled nothing so much as torture chambers for children. Doubtless your experience with the witch influenced your decision to leave school as soon as possible. There has been much coverage in Canada of the residential schools here where indigenous children were taken from their parents, forbidden to speak their language or practice any of their customs, and abuse of all kinds was commonplace, inflicted by those loving emissaries of god, priests and nuns.
ReplyDeleteDavid, some of the most unpleasant people I've known have been connected directly to the church. On the other hand some of the most pleasant people I have known have been ardent believers and some confirmed atheists.
DeleteIt was drummed into me as a child that pride was wrong and that I should be neither seen nor heard, and I didn't even attend a Church school.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that I ever really grew out of that doctrine.
3 January 2025 at 16:34
DeleteJayCee, my parents were very much of the school of thought that children were an active part of the family in almost every way. I enjoyed my out-of-school childhood - just not school.
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Adults don't realise how threatening and frightening they can appear to small children.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. I am convinced that those people knew exactly what they were doing. They were thriving on instilling fear in their young charges.
DeleteI agree with Librarian. Some of their actions verged on sadism.
DeleteJanice, there may well be some adults who are naive and don't realise but my experience certainly supports the view that there are many adults out there who are very much aware of the power they have and the terror they can instill.
DeleteWhenever I was justifiably proud of an achievement, my mother would say "pride comes before a fall"
ReplyDeleteFunny that, she's the most pathologically proud person I know.
Damaged people damage people. It seems as though you've been a cycle breaker and that's worth celebrating.
Kylie, I think that people who are lectured about something constantly (in this case pride) often end up subconsciously rebelling and adopting the quality they are told to avoid.
DeleteI am sorry for every child that had a less than good start at learning, and teachers DO make all the difference - at least at that age.
ReplyDeleteMiss Witch was probably rather the norm than the exception when it came to schools based on religion. When my sister and I were little, we lived for a year in a predominantly Catholic village, where the only kindergarden was run by nuns. (We were the only protestant family in the village at that time, but my parents weren't practising.)
Those nuns were of the opinion that little girls should only play with dolls and kitchen things, while the building blocks and cars were for the boys. Woe to the girl that wanted to join the boys building something, or the boy wanting to dress a doll!
More than once, my sister and I ran away. We weren't physically hurt (some of the more mischievous boys were beaten, though) but couldn't stand the strict rules that made absolutely no sense to us. We're talking not yet 5 and not yet 6 year olds here.
Thankfully, my first teacher at elementary school was wonderful! A beautiful young woman who had 30 little admirers sitting in front of her, wanting to do well do please her! She was not unlike the blond, long-legged Barbie in the pink dress I was playing with at home, only really really kind and good with children. (This was 1974, my first year at school.)
Meike, I sometime think that discipline is too lax these days but the happy medium does happen to many. At grammar school I was, of course, older but we still had some sadistic teachers as well as many brilliant people who had devoted pupils who did exceptionally well as a result.
DeleteI don't believe there is anything more terrifying than to see the 'mask' slip, when a person's authentic self is so different from the face that they present to the world. Especially when you are a child.
ReplyDeleteDebby, I agree. In my adult life I have known and admired people only to find that, in different circumstances, they have been absolutely awful people.
DeleteLibrarian has it right. At that time they had other sayings like spare the rod and spoil the child. there were beatings and hitting which could be charged as assault today. Assault on a minor. Many people did overcome such cruelty.
ReplyDeleteRed, I believe that, long after I left primary school, one of the teachers (who wasn't there in my time) was prosecuted for assault of a child at school.
DeleteI started school at 7 and from my first two school years I don't have any traumatic memoires. Through years 3-8 I did not like school much, but that was mostly to do with our class being merged with another and becoming too large and really too much for one teacher to handle, rather than the teaching as such. Got better during my 9th and last year of elementary school, thanks to some reorganisations; and my following three years in upper secondary school mostly good too (even if I also went through a period of feeling rather tired of studying, and afterwards ended up taking a sabbatical year before continuing). As for Pride I do well recall the saying that Kylie quotes above "pride comes before a fall", but even if Christianity was still very much part of the curriculum in Swedish schools during my first six school years (we started each morning with a hymn, and said prayers before going to the lunch room), I don't think there was much talk of "Deadly" Sins.
ReplyDeleteMonica, the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, covetousness, lust, envy, anger, gluttony and sloth were etched on my 7 year old brain and remain in there to this day. Sloth has never been one of my serious faults but I've had a go at all the others at one time or another.
DeleteGraham, I'm familiar with them of course but they were never "etched on my brain" to still be recalled at any time like that (even in Swedish). I've probably been guilty of all of them (sloth included). Thankfully I've also learned to see the concept of "grace" as a rather powerful antidote...
DeleteI hated school too but more for personal reasons than anything else but my mother was raised in a strict catholic family, she has told me stories of how brutal the nuns were.
ReplyDeleteAmy, from stories I've been told evil is a pretty mild description.
DeleteI agree with Meike. Many teachers were bitter and nasty and would pick on certain children and put them down. I am sure it still goes on today.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I suspect little has changed when it comes to evil teachers although they are more likely to get beaten up outside school now if they go too far.
DeleteI can remember being caned for having one hand in my pocket in the college grounds. School rules had no baring on rules outside school. Thinking back, I should have punched the 'senior boy' who caned me!
ReplyDeleteCro, I was once a few hundred yards from home after cycling the 3 miles from school when the headmaster's secretary saw me without my cap on. I'd just been into a shop. She just happened to be driving by (in his car!!). She stopped me and told me to return to the school and see the headmaster then and there. Obviously she got there before me. It was a canable offence but he just reminded me of the rules which stated unequivocally that if school uniform was being worn in public outside school then the cap must be worn. It was the only time I ever was caught for a canable offence.
DeleteIt was partly as a direct result of my own experience of secondary schooling that I chose to become a teacher. I wanted to be a good teacher, kind, well-prepared and fair-minded - helping youngsters to fulfil their potential. I am pleased to say that most of my colleagues had a similar outlook. We were very much "for" the children, not "against" them.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole that was my experience of teachers, Neil. Sometimes though there were some right barstewards.
DeleteI went through Catholic school from elementary all the way through College. I had many good teachers and was often quite the "teacher's pet". But later in life, I resented all of the silly rules and beliefs that I swallowed and then came to realize how controlling it all was. I quit religion and have never regretted it.
ReplyDeleteG'day, Graham. I had a teacher by the name of Miss Twomey, too when I was a little kid.
ReplyDeleteI believe one should always try to have pride in one's own self...and have pride in one's work, efforts, and deeds.
Happy New Year, Graham...I wish you well 2025 through. Take good care. :)
I have just remembered the wise words of Margot Fonteyn. "To have pride in one's work is essential, to have pride in oneself is not".
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