First came "If you don't understand, its OK to ask!"

I cannot remember how many times my Father told me, "If you don't understand something, its OK to ask!"

It must have been happening when I was quite young because it was and has always been a mantra for me. I hear that phrase in my head every time I don't understand, or want to know something about what is the current event or conversation. I suppose it served me well for the longest time, but it came home to roost when at the age of about six I was in the last year of infant school, preparing for the move to elementary school. (I started school at the age of 4 in UK). We had a parent/teacher night and we had assembled all of our work for our parents to see. We were supposed to walk our parents through what we had been doing in school and it was an opportunity for our parents to talk to the classroom teacher.

My classroom teacher was, as I remember it, an ancient, wizzened lady with frizzy grey hair and a stoop. My Father asked her how I was doing in school and she commented that I was doing very well (how pleased I was to hear that!) but then she added that there was one very real problem. My Father was anxious to hear what that was and he asked. The reply? "He is always asking questions!"

My Father looked suprised at the response and said in my defence "I am pleased to hear it! I have always told him that if you don't understand something to not be afraid to ask." The teacher's response I can still hear as clearly today as I heard it 52 years ago. "Yes, but not in the middle of a test!"

oldlincolnian