Reading was not my favorite activity growing up. I remember going to a PAP kindergarden in Strathmore Ave. The teacher was strict and belong to the old school. She use corporal punishment liberally. I was wacked many times for not doing homework, not able to read, not able to write properly, and many other good reasons to give me a whach with a 12" ruler. My first week at the primary school was horrible. Other kids were chatting away in English and worse of all many of the girls will run to the teacher and "teacher, teacher, so and so did this". Usually, the so and so is a boy. I feel inferior. I am clueless since I cannot speak English at all. I can only recite "A" for Apple, "B" for boy, "C" for cat... I wonder how come my classmate know how to speak to the teacher and I am so incapable and incompetent.
It was until I was in Primary 4 when my eldest sister brought me to Queenstown Library to get two library cards. The library card was a very nice light brown cardboard jacket. Every library book had a card. The date for returning the book will be stamped on the card and inserted into your library card and kept by the librarian. There is a piece of paper pasted on the first page of the book so that the due date of return for the book can be stamped there.
Books borrowed for free! What an awesome concept. I was hooked. I borrowed all kinds of books - fairy tales, science fair, famous scientists, aeromodelling, and many other my memory cannot recall. I was very very proud of the fact I have read Swiss Family Robinson unabridge version. It was a huge book. Please remember I was in Primary 4 then. The library was my place for entertainment. I love fairy and folk tales. The stories were enchanting to me.
My favourite author was Enid Blyton until I was in Secondary School. Enid Blyton today is considered suitable lower primary. Somehow school and library frown on stories by Enid Blyton. I have to buy them. 3 copies for a princely sum of $5. My mum was supportive of my reading habit. So money for books was no object. I read in the car, I read lying down on the bed, I read in the sunlight and I read in the dark. Guess what, at P5, my glasses was at 500 degrees. Extremely high say the optician.
During PE, my glasses will drop off my head due to the weight. Nonetheless, I enjoy the different worlds opening up to me. I became interested in anything that put into a book like Tao, Chuang Tze, UFOs, Occult, Space exploration, Science and classics like Sherlock Holmes. Reading became my life. I rather be reading than to do revision. Hence my school results are always on the average or below average. My thoughts was my general knowledge through all the books I have read will help me do a better job. How naive I was. Academic achievement and a degree is very important in Singapore. One of my classmate in Secondary 1 became a scholar and is now running a GLC with salary of more than a million a year. I am just a bum compared to him.
2 comments:
Wish I could be like u who loves to read.
BT
According to Peter Drucker, there are different ways to learn. Some read like me, others need to listen, some write and best of some has to talk to others to learn. Abraham Lincoln is one who need to talk. He will call his close associates to listen to his speeches and then tell them to go home. He did not want to hear or know their feedback!
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