‘n Briefie uit die bloute onderstreep weer die belangrike rol wat onderwysers kan speel om jong mense wat afdwaal weer opdie regte koers te plaas. Richard Goodhead (1986) het diep getref met hierdie dankbetuiging.
Dear Paul Roos (Gymnasium)
By way of introduction, my name is Richard Goodhead, class of 86.
I was hoping to send this before Mr J P Vermeulen’s retirement last year, but it seems I have missed the boat but thought I would share it anyway.
In 1982, I dropped out of Northcliff High School in Johannesburg at the end of the 1st term into my standard 9 year (grade 11). I did that because I was going to fail that year not due to my lack of ability, but because I did nothing at school, was lazy and a bad teenager with a substance abuse problem.
After dropping out, I ended up doing my military service from July 1983 to June 1985.
My bad habits had increased by that time and eventually in late August 1985 I decided I had a plan. I was going to leave Johannesburg and drive to Cape Town where I was going to sell my car and stow away on a ship to Panama.
Fortunately, my mother had not entirely given up on me yet and she realized what a stupid illogical plan I had suggested. Her parting words to me was that I should at least stop at my uncle in Stellenbosch for a good meal before I leave.
Once in Stellenbosch, my uncle and his three sons, the youngest who was then at Paul Roos Gymnasium, somehow convinced me that I should rather go back to school to get a matric, to which I agreed with some arm twisting and encouragement from my cousins.
I headed to the school on the 5th of September 1985 for an interview with the rector at that time, Mr Galloway. This was 5 days before my 20th birthday.
Mr Galloway decided to give me a chance, but set the following conditions:
First was that if I ever came to his office again with cigarettes in my top pocket it would be my last visit ever to his office or the school; and the other was that since I had 6 weeks before the standard 9 ( grade 11 ) class wrote final exams for the year, I must enter for the exams and if I was able to pass he would allow me to do my Matric year in 1986.
This was going to be a serious challenge because not only did I have to pass, but I could no longer take the same subjects that I had done when I was at Northcliff. I was given a choice: I had to drop geography and pick either history, biology, or agricultural science to fit in with the PRG subject choices. I examined the textbooks and based on the number of pages in each book chose agricultural science as it was about half as thick as the other two,
So, I ended up with English, Afrikaans, Mathematics, Science, Agricultural Science and Metalwork.
I worked as hard as I could, and exams came and went, and the marks started to come out. Somehow, I scraped through in English, Afrikaans, Maths and Science, but failed horribly in Agricultural Science.
So being able to do matric in 1986 all hung on my metal work results. I had no practical project for the year, and it was all on one theory test for metalwork. My future was in the balance.
From the day I started Mr Vermeulen was always encouraging and supportive and always asked questions about how I was managing.
Metalwork was the last mark that I needed to get so I stayed behind after the class one day as it was the last period of the day and asked him about the test. He told me he had not marked them yet and asked how I had done in the other classes. I told him I was 4 out of 5.
The rule back then was that you had to pass 5 out of 6 to progress. He gave me a smile and said he would mark it there and then.
I sat opposite him at his desk while he went through my paper more than a few times.
Then he handed me my paper and at the top of the paper was 34%, which was 1% more than you needed to pass a standard grade subject and with that I was given the opportunity to do Matric.
I can tell you that he must have dug deep to find that 34% and I believe to this day that he was the one who gave me a free pass and a chance which I really needed. I have never forgotten that day.
He didn’t have to do it but he did. I am grateful and thankful to this day as without that moment in my life, my life could have been very different now.
So big thanks to Mr Vermeulen, Blitz and all the PRG teachers that encouraged and supported me.
I went on to finish matric at Paul Roos Gymnasium with some decent marks.
Looking back I see now that all the teachers in that year were extremely supportive of the 20 /21 year old Engelsman in their classes who wrote his matric math prelim on his 21st birthday .
Best regards
Richard Goodhead (1986)
Postscript: Richard has spent most of his life in the electronics and IT field and is currently an account manager for a service provider to the retail industry. He has been married for 30 years to Samantha and they have 3 children, all adults now. If he is not at home with his family, you will find him rock climbing with his sons or running with his friends. He is proud of two great running achievements in his life: In 2010 he ran 6000 kilometres from Cape Agulhas to Kilimanjaro at an average of 49 km per day and then in 2012 he did a similar thing in South America from Ushuaia at the bottom to Aconcagua. He finished both runs off by summitting the peaks – the first one the highest in Africa and the second one the highest in South America.
