thread from friends.....


From my personal experience, I had mostly great teachers and a few bad teachers at my primary school... Holy Redeemer Boys School. Some of the great ones I recall were Miss Alamina, Miss Smith, Mr. Wong, Sista Francine ( she would bust your ass if you looked at her the wrong way), Sista Edwardine ( the Vamp), Sista Xavier with her cane. They were dedicated and hard working. Always willing to put in some extra time with the students. I have no idea how these teachers were trained and how much they were paid but I recall the dedication they had.

I have always said and will say again: my high school education at SJC can compare with the best prep schools in the US. Again there were some great teachers .... Mr Wilmering, Carlos Perdomo, Cachucha, Fr. Zinkle, Fr. Walsh, Tatch, Mr. Miller, Jack Slade, Stochl, Fr Dieckmann.... to name a few. At that time most of the teachers at SJC were Jesuits..priests or scholastics from St. Louis although there were a few lay local teachers but I recall these guys as dedicated and hard nosed disciplinarians who were knowledgeable of the subject matter and thourough in their presentation. I cannot help but believe that these guys took time to prepare lesson plans. I'm sure the jesuits were not paid but I don't believe the lay teachers were compensated that well. Maybe it was just a different time with a different work ethic.


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Hey, Mr. Wong is my godfather for confirmation (strange story). Anyone know wha's up with him? Is he still teaching? I'd like to say hi someday. Geez, I'm old!

Don't forget the Lara's! MEL's parents. This would be a long list if we started.

Holy Redeemer and SJC/SCA were the schools back in the days� Tha's not to say that the others were any less, they were all better than or as good as any US private school that I've visited today. Yes, the teaching has changed thanks to technology, but you received a sound education from Belizean schools. I did my last year and a half in a US high school and that was a joke.

If you look at the people who have been to SJC during the 70s and early 80s and where they are today you will see that for the most part they are the successes of our nation, the brain trust that needs to come back home. We have nobel winners, brain surgeons, educators, lawyers, doctors, nurses, accountants, mathematicians, statisticians, etc. We even have many entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, I believe that education in Belize is not as good as it once was. It is still better than many public schools in the US but when it came time for my kids to go to high school I did what was best for them to be shipped to private schools in the US. At the elementary level they go to school on the island and I still have two still in school here.

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LOL, I forgot about Mr. Wong's sash cord. Mel mentioned he was at the extension on Regent street still going strong. I went through the Std five above the vogue myself. At the time we drank the powdery KLIM..damn, that was long ago. Is there room somewhere for a cafeteria? I'll have to go visit on my next trip.

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I want to be there when GM kicks Mr Wong's ass. Other than the numerous sash-cord whippings I got from him, the one incident I will never forgive him for is one day after drinking that same $%^# powder milk KLIM you talked about (in the white enamel cup), I had the shits and he wouldn't let me go to the bathroom and by the time recess came, I had done shit my $%^# pants. I cleaned up as best as I could until I could get home and change.

Isn't Mr Wong Alfonso and Hilly Martinez brother? I heard Alfonso died in a horrific traffic accident a few years ago.

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Yes, Mr Wong is Hilly's and Fonso's brother... both good friends of mine. I played football and basketball with those guys since we were little kids. We also played basketball against each other way back when CYO was being played at St Ignacious. I heard about that traffic accident also.. such a shame. I
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