Lessons from My School Years

1. There is a stark contrast created in the opening of this story between what the narrator had been doing before entering school and what will be expected at school?   What is this contrast and what does it immediately create in the story?  The contrast that is created at the beginning of the story is that which is juxtaposed with the true reality. The authors intensions and thoughts of school is to learn what he wants to learn when in reality it is to be obedient and to learn what is being taught. 

2. The author continues this theme of contrast at the start of the story. How does he do this in his description of his experience of Sydney’s North Shore? He describes the North Shore as being very different based on location. There is areas which are full of leafy green and solid brick houses which he doesn't like. His whole world revolves around this and the highway with is juxtaposed with the positives such as the library, the back lane and the park.

3. What was the father’s background in business before he opened the fruit shop? What has helped him become successful? The fathers background in business was non-existent, he had no background when he moved to Australia. To overcome this he used his personality and greeted all customer with a wide smile, asking them what they want and being very friendly and chatty.

4. The narrator’s description of his father is complex. What makes the father a complex character? The narrator's description of the father is very complex because the father has many different aspects about him. He is a happy, chatty, friendly man who strives to make people feel welcome in his shop. He also is a very hard diligent worker, having started a successful business in Australia with no english or business skills, and is very motivated as seen through the checking of account every night in order to make sure everything is good. This shows that he has many different character traits which make him a very complex person.

5. (91) How does the author describe his role in doing ‘things that counted’? His purpose within the family was to listen and watch what his siblings had to say about school in order to learn for himself what is acceptable and what isn't within schooling life. This to him was the only way of learning because he couldn't ask questions because they would be seen as insignificant. 

6. What experience does the author have at school while keeping to himself? What does he learn from this experience? The author experiences a bad situation at school by trying to keep to himself. He is centred out because of not only his difference is race (an asian in an australian environment) but because he keeps to himself and doesn't talk. He learns not to be afraid of the people around him but be nice and friendly.

7. How would you characterise the narrator’s tone in regards to the events that are occurring around him? The narrator would use a rather mono tone, that of a single note. He is seeing the world in one major way, that it is horrible. His expectations are very different to reality and this sets in a negative mood and a very one-sided view.

8. How does the narrator characterise the ways that one could ‘get the strap’ and ways that one could avoid it? The narrator characterises the way that one could 'get the strap' as being very easy to get and very hard to avoid it. Simple things that happen daily would get the strap such as mis-spelling a word in a spelling bee, getting an answer wrong, walking to fast or to slow, etc. There was very few ways to avoid the strap.

9. What event evokes a racist speech to the class by the teacher? The boy in the story could not swim and therefore, his sister wrote a note to excuse him from the swimming carnival. The teacher than reads it to the whole class, that stating "we all know these chinese people never contribute to anything".

10. What effect did the author’s experience with ‘Strap Happy Jack’ have on him? It made him think about the minority of the chinese people within the area and the fact that racist comments like "chinese people never contribute" not meaning much and having little effect on the population.

11. What was the one advantage school provided the author? One advantage that the author found was that as he went on through high school, some teachers noticed talents in him and one teacher for example told him that his test scores indicated a very valuable future for him.

12. What did the author do at his school? What was his motivation for doing it? What did he feel was lacking at school? The author started a workshop program, something that interested him and was something that he enjoyed. He was motivated to do something that he enjoyed (the motivation coming from interest that he set the boundaries for the program), and he felt that the school was lacking the ability for him to choose his own future.

13. What did the parents want their son to do at school? What did the author fear would happen by obeying his parents? The parents (mostly the mother) wanted their son to be a specific profession. The mother wanted her son to be a doctor, something that he feared and hated to do. She chose this because of her culture and her wanting of a doctor in the family. The author feared that he would end up having to follow a path that was based on the teachers decision, because he mother told him to learn what is begin taught and learn what you want after, which to him sounded like he would miss the opportunity to learn what he wants.

14. At school, what did the author learn about his own type of thinking and how to use it? He learn, by being at school, that his own type of thinking is very different to the next persons and that he has to follow his style in order to use it to its full potential.