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' General .
' SJI like the other Mission Schools was a grantin-aid school and enjoyed a very high measure of autonomy . The La Salle Order was allowed free reign in conducting the school classes and except for a visit from the Inspector of Schools once or so a year , the Department of Education stayed very much in the background . Every school boy paid a school fee of $ 3 / - per month and out of this collection the school had to meet the expenses of running the school , including the salaries of teachers which varied from $ 90 / - per month to $ 300 / - per month for every teaching Brother of the La Salle Order .
' There was no library worth mentioning in those days . A few novels were available for lending to the students and they occupied about three bookshelves in a room next to the Director ' s office . There was also no tuckshop and certain street hawkers were allowed into one of the corridors in the school compound during the lunch hour . Some of the hawkers had their pitches in the five foot-way in Waterloo Street in front of a stationer ' s shop which occupied a recess in the wall of the building . We obtained our lunches from these hawkers at the cost of two cents for a plate of fried kwayteow or mee . A student in those days could do very well with five cents a day for pocket money .
1 have so far made only a passing reference to the School Chapel . Many of us used to attend Vespers after school hours , but sometimes during the lunch break the Chapel was a quiet haven for those who wished to pray and get away from the noise and bustle of the playing areas .
1n my time , every pupil had a Report Book in which records of his conduct and progress were entered every week . This Book had to be taken home every Monday for the signature of the parent or guardian and returned to the teacher by the middle of the week . It was a very good system for
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providing parents and guardians with a knowledge of how the pupil was faring in school .
' I have so far made no mention of three wellknown teachers namely , Mr . Cyril Reutens and his brother and also Frank James . I was never in any of their classes , although in later years 1came to know them well . In those days there were four classes to every Standard and one did not get the benefit of the teaching of every teacher in the school .
' I have referred to corporal punishment being administered by the class or form teachers . 1must , however , hasten to add that there were very few teachers who exercised discipline by the use of the cane . In fact , the majority of them used toavoid the unpleasant task by passing the buck to the Vice- Principal and 1 believe Brother Sigebert disliked the assignment intensely . I think that it was not so much the punishment as the anticipation and the ignominy which often had a trauma ticeffect on the children .
' A painless alternative form of punishment for students was provided by the holding of what used to be called the Penance Class . Any child found guilty of some minor mischief could be sent by the form teacher to this class which served as a penitentiary lasting one hour from 3.00 p . m . to 4.00 p . m . 1 never knew what the boys were required to do during that hour and with the benefit of hind sight , 1should have rendered myself eligible for that class in order to complete my knowledge of the workings of the school .
1 made mention before of the spiral staircase near my Standard 1IClassroom , but I should add that the use of that staircase was forbidden to the school children because it led to the 1st floor of the left wing of the SJI Building where the Brothers had their quarters . This wing also provided a dormitory for a handful of overseas students mainly from Java and Sumatra . That area was protected territory and so mindful were the boys of the
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school rules that 1 never heard of anyone trespassing into that area . After the Second World War , suitable quarters in a new building designed by Koh Cheng Yamon Queen Street were built for the Brothers .
' Before leaving school in December 1927 , Koh Cheng Yamand I , curious to know what the dome of the school building looked like when viewed from the interior , climbed up the narrow staircase which led us to the base of the dome . It had even then a very rickety floor but we were able to get a very good view of the surrounding area . Except for the Cathedral and Church spires and the dome of Raffles Museum , we were on practically the highest structure in the area . And so that was how we said good-bye to our school life . It was the end of ten of our happiest years with not a care in the world except that of attending to our studies conscientiously .
1t is pleasing to see that more than half a century later SJI , with dome and all , still stands steadfast , looking after the educational needs of twice the number of pupils accommodated during my time and in the words of the late Rev . Brother Paul ( a former Brother Visitor ) continues to flourish flanked by " Regal Splendour on one side and Military Glory on the other " . - A contemporary ofC . C . Tan was Patrick Loh , who was later to become a Brother and Principal of SJI ( 1967- 1974 ) and of Catholic Junior College ( 1974 - 1978 ).
' The corner ofBras Basah Road and Waterloo St . near the former bookshops held terrors for me . It was there that a car ran me down and crushed my thigh , one day in October 1921 . 1 was returning home to 67Bras Basah Road after attending Rosary devotions when I came within inches of death . One pleasant memory of that accident remains : 1 used to be visited by a nice lady , my teacher in Primary One , Miss Freda Jansen . She is one of the SJIteachers of that era who are still with us today .
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28 Memories of Sf ! |