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The
Madras College Magazine
for September 1963
reports:
MISS SMITH
Although Miss Smith retired at the end of the session
after "only" sixteen years as a teacher at Madras College, her
association with the school has been a much longer one. She was a pupil
here, the youngest of a family of four, all of whom passed through the
primary and secondary departments and became graduates of St. Andrews.
Miss Smith and her sister have been active members of the College
Centenary Committee and will see their efforts rewarded when the new
pavilion is opened in the autumn. Miss Smith was herself a hockey
enthusiast at school and university.
She taught at Markinch in the secondary department
before returning to Madras to take the top primary class. During these
years this was a difficult job in an exposed position, for all over the
country the 11+ (or 12+) has been and is a matter of controversy and the
subject of much parental anxiety. Here a teacher required faith in what
she had to do and a firmness of purpose. Miss Smith was the ideal
person. She had, too, wide interests and did not fail to communicate
them to her pupils. A knowledgeable St. Andrean. she saw to it that they
knew something about the city and its history. She is very active in
many good causes and she made sure the children were alive to such
causes, so that over the years her classes have contributed generously
in money and effort.
During the last few years, with the transfer of the
primary to Market Street, Miss Smith must have felt an "in-between,"
neither in one part nor in the other; one can imagine her carrying on
her own routine while the activity of the secondary school went on
around her, often missed when notices were sent round. Now she will be
missed in another sense. We wish her a happy and vigorous retirement.
The following appreciation was received from a former
pupil:
At the age of eleven I was given my first Greek lexicon,
a large leather-bound volume, exciting to me though completely
unintelligible. I knew no Greek and indeed my interest in it was little
more than enthusiastic talk of entering a profession that required
knowledge of the language: but my primary school teacher gave me the
book to encourage my ambitions and help me in the effort of learning.
That teacher was Miss Smith, who after a long period of teaching in
Primary VII has now retired from her post.
It would be very difficult to make an adequate
appreciation of Miss Smith's service to the school and to countless
pupils who have been taught by her. I have given an example of her
concern for individuals, a concern that was shown in spite of the
difficulties of large classes and wide varieties in aptitude and
ability.
I remember Miss Smith as quite a strict disciplinarian,
sometimes painful in my case almost paternal ! - but always fair, and
isn't fairness the one thing children consistently demand ? She soon
gained the respect of her pupils and created that special link between
teacher and pupil that is necessary for effective teaching. After many
intervening years I can look back in appreciation of my early schooling.
I am sure I showed Miss Smith no gratitude then, but in retrospect I
feel it now and thank her.
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