Mauritius: " He incarnated a Lighting Inspiration for Me!"
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L'Express (Port Louis)
8 July 2008
Posted to the web 8 July 2008
Vanessen Tirvassen
Port Louis
"I walked into Lycee Labourdonnais in the 70s. Although I did not achieve all my schooling there, I did much of it there beginning in the 3rd year of primary school. In terms of teachers, the first who comes to my mind was one of Biology (Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre in the French system), and I got him for the last two years of my secondary education. His name was Mr.
Robert, but not the Robert in the Mauritian context, as he was a French person (laughter). He did extraordinary things in class that would motivate us to like the subject.
In those days, education was mostly 'bookish', and as a result the contact with the exterior world was far too restricted. In other words, we had to limit ourselves to books and thus there was no field work. However, it happened not to be the same with Mr. Robert.
As an example, I remember that, to make us study the geological history of Mauritius, he asked us to go to Trou-aux-Cerfs and draw a relief map. Each one in the class had to go there by his or her own means and draw the stuff from a precise point. We found this quite an amazing experience as we were asked to think a lot rather than just say to ourself 'these are as such!'
The other teacher who has had a great impact on me was Mr. Babet, who was a physics and chemistry teacher. He will be best remembered for the fact that, despite the number of experiments we were asked to do, we would always fail in making a successful one. Nevertheless, we would always walk out of his class having understood everything. He was nothing less than tremendous!
I have had a scientific training and I must say that when I recall time I realise that the teachers I named are the types of teachers needed for this type of academic path, especially Mr. Robert who taught me what 'field work' was. The kind of things they made us do, marked a great opening for me from a personal point of view. Furthermore, they motivated to choose the scientific way up. But to be honest, I think I did not have the choice as I was not particularly good in linguistics (Laughter).
I must say that there has never been any teacher that I disliked. In fact, there might have been a subject that I did not particularly like. But one teacher who managed to change the situation was Mr. Lambert. He was a mathematics teacher (a subject that I never understood), and he was the one who had the capability of explaining things so well to an extent that everyone could understand.
All of a sudden, he incarnated like a lighting inspiration for me. In a way he pulled the trigger by helping me to choose the scientific field just by explaining things so well and so calmly in the class. He showed a great interest in the subject and this motivated me to go further. He even developed my logical thinking, and gave me like the base of this type of reflection that has helped me for every thing I have had to do later on up to now.
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By thinking well, I can go on and say he was arguably my best teacher as he has shown me how to think in a great manner."
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