Standard 8 Wanted.

[Michael Alexander]

I never knew that this vote happened, I still think that this result reads fishy...... 49 to 51..... Aw, Com'on..... make it more realistic.... 45 does 55....

Why was the high school turned down?

[SandyB]

Mmm yes ,, but if I look back at  it  highschool and hostel living  did me  and so many others no harm , in fact we benefited , grew up .. and yes Mike had lots of fun in Greenpoint ...

[Patricia Lotte]

Had I been given the choice to stay longer at OPS or go off to boarding school, there's no way in hell I would have left OPS. I hated boarding school for the full 5 years I lived there. Sandy, maybe you were lucky enough to be in a school that had the student's happiness at heart. I didn't. We were treated like prisoners during WW2 ... ok, I might be exaggerating a little, but not much. Believe it or not, when I returned to SA for the first time 9 years after leaving the country, I actually went back to my high school and the first thing the new 'mistress' said when I told her I was an old student from the 80's, was 'why do you want to see this place again?'. Yes, I was there when things were not very easy for a teenage girl. Since then the place looks more homely and you can see that the boarders are happy. So yes, I would have stayed on at OPS had I been given the choice. And then I would have remained with RHODES even longer 

[SandyB]

Patricia  .. I did  not  say that I enjoyed  high school and hostel ,, in fact in my intro I used the owrd incacerated ,  imprisoned .. I  was not  entirely happy  and yes was not a 
" good boy "  and  ran  away  just before the end of std 8  cos my  folks  wanted me to  stay on there till matric ..  I had other ideas ,,
But  yes  like  all medicine  does not  taste  good  ,, I look back in retrospect   the  stay there did me good , I grew up , we  had to learn to  become  more independent ,  and yes we got  up  to lots of mischief in the  big  city  where the  watchful eyes of  our parents  were not .. this  showed in the army .. the  ex hostel kids fared far better  than   those  that  stayed at home ..

[Michael Alexander]

I hated std 6, (Not because Alfie kept beating me up!, just missed home) By Std 8 , I was loving it..... By Matric (and two years in 9) I was a regular city slicker.... clubs, pubs and party...... Man! Boarding School life was hectic, I am amazed that I never had grey hair at 18........

[Andrew Darné]

@Patricia, RGHS = ? Rhenish or Rustenburg?

[Alfred Boehme]

I hated std 6, (Not because Alfie kept beating me up!, just missed home) By Std 8 , I was loving it..... By Matric (and two years in 9) I was a regular city slicker.... clubs, pubs and party...... Man! Boarding School life was hectic, I am amazed that I never had grey hair at 18........

And look what a perfect guy Mike A turned out to be or maybe I'm the cause of he's drinking habits

[Patricia Lotte]

@Patricia, RGHS = ? Rhenish or Rustenburg?

It was Rustenburg Girls High School in Rondebosch

[Delia]

Just like everybody else, i hated boarding school (Wynberg Girls High) while i was there but i look back now and i wouldn't change a thing, i'm glad i went.  Had some good crazy times - raiding the kitchen at night; midnight feasts; bunking out; smoking skelm in the bathrooms with towels rolled up along the doorway cracks with the Radio 5 Top Ten blasting from the radio while lying in the bath; lazy Sunday afternoons lying on my bed looking out on to the back of Table Mountain listening to Forces Favourites hoping to hear a request for someone i knew up on the border (which i did sometimes), good friendships made with some still lasting to this day. Was a good experience, as Sandy said it taught us independence, didn't have the folks to run to, just to had to tough it out ourselves which bred self confidence.........and yes Mike, for those of us who frequented those pubs, clubs and discos, they opened our eyes to life beyond O'mund's sessions at the youth club.  I believe those that hacked it out at boarding school were better equipped to handle life as an independent adult.

[SandyB]

Too true  Delia .. and yes  we  got into many tight spots  on our misadventures  vis clubs seedy  spots etc .. ,, and yes had  to brazen it out on our own .. made  me a bit more streetwise as well ...