Not a dull moment with a gutsy lady

This article was published in New Strait Times under the column Young Times
Wednesday, May 18 1994

You could hear her a mile away, from the way she dragged her feet. She was not a pretty sight. She slouched and wore sloppy clothes that kept falling off her shoulders. Her hair was done in a bob and parted in the middle. Kept in place with two clips she looked like something out of an old Chinese magazine! She was not one to be emulated.

In class, she used profanities. But the old lady had spunk. She openly announced her dislike for girls and aggravated the situation by disclosing her preference for boys who were supposedly more fun. She immediately became unpopular with my classmates-what kind of woman would discredit her own sex!

Yet, when Mrs B.C Wong taught us history, there was never a dull moment. She not only taught us world history but also told us about Catherine the Great's many lovers and that Mary Todd (Abraham Lincoln's wife) was insane and nearly drove old Abe mad as well.

It was from Mrs.Wong that I learnt of Napoleon' famous line, "Not tonight Josephine, not tonight!". And when we were trying to remember the map of America with all its many states, she told us to remember Florida as a penis- I told you, she loved to shock us.

Nevertheless, her teaching methods were effective. She made us read long winded texts in class, gave us the summary and punctuated it with extraordinary stories.Remembering historical events was no longer a formidabe task. Just think of a particular story and it would trigger the events that led to it.

She also told us she spent her childhood in a rubber estate. She and her sister learnt English by memorising the dictionary."There is no such thing as laziness in my vocabulary," she stressed.

That year with Mrs. Wong opened my eyes to many things. She taught me to speak my mind and to shun hypocrisy. She hated it when we haggled with her for extra point. Grades were  nothing to her. She wanted us to learn history for the love of it and to seek truth in the process.

Mrs B.C. Wong, you're quite a teacher. You are also quite a woman. Thank you