Peter Woo
YamPoon, School Cert. 1957
woobiola@yahoo.com,
7/16/2004
[Explanations
added for US readers]
When Mr Chu came to teach at QES [Queen Elizabeth School, a high school in HK], it caused quite a
stir. I was in Form 4A [equiv.
to Grade 10 in US], he was head teacher for class 4B, and some
friends there told me he was very good, or very severe, but all said he taught
very well.
So one day he started to teach our class. He was confident, full of energy, and his
lectures contents were rich and well-organized.
But he was severe. Soon he gave
us a table of "valencies" to memorize, such as sulphate is 2-, ferric
is 3+, aluminate is 3-, bicarbonate is 1-, etc.
Then 1 week (?) later, he quizzed us orally in class. One classmate loudly proclaimed that
"oxide" is of valency 1, and he was immediately punished to write it
100 times. He did give us warning of the
quiz, so the diligent students did not get caught. .
After this we knew he meant business. I wish I could have used such methods of
pedagogy in my math classes in college here in US, but I had no such freedom. I do sincerely believe public humiliation,
when used properly, can generate great motivations and improvements on student
behaviors, better than the whip or the spanking ruler. .
I began to like him.
He was very confident that his teaching will generate great results in
terms of distinctions and honors in School Cert and Matric exams, and we never
even dreamed of challenging him in class.
[In HK, School Cert is a colony
wide high school graduation exam, more severe than SAT. For each subject, about 10 percent will get
distinctions (like an A in US) and 20 percent gets credits, (like a B+ in US),
and 30 ro 40 percent will fail.] I thought he had taught in another
high school before, but I also believed he was a fresh graduate of HK Univ. (I now know from his orbituary he taught at
St. Paul Boys' before he came.) He
enunciated English very clearly, even with his peculiar Hong Kong accent. He was better than other teachers who would
pronounce "same thing" as "Sam sing". He invented some peculiar English phrases
which he would use on us if we misbehave.
One of them is "you are a stupid fool.".
I don't recall him writing very much on the board. He simply dictated his lecture notes orally,
and we copied like crazy. He would write
on the board only special terminology here and there. So we learned there are something like 12
properties of oxygen, 15 properties of chlorine, and some 20 properties of
phenol and benzene. Why so specific? So
that we can reproduce them at the School Certificate or Matriculation
(university entrance) exams. This may
sound like a ducks-stomachs-stuffing pedagogy, but we liked this stuffing
stuff, and immediately we scored better than Kings College and caught up and
even beat Queen's College when results of these public exams came out each summer. [The
most pretigious high school in HK are called "colleges"].
So his teaching method is simple: Prepare the students for
the public exams, and they will be eternally grateful. .
But he was so full of energy that we students also learned
a lot of qualitative analysis and titrations at the lab. .
He taught us how to mix extremely dilute lead nitrate
solution to a very dilute potassium iodide solution, and after a few seconds,
golden crystals will precipitate in the test-tube. .
Another time he taught us to fill one test tube with
hydrogen sulphide [Americans say
'sulfide'], and another with chlorine, both gases. Hold them in both hands, the tubes being
plugged with our thumbs. Then face the
test tubes mouth to mouth, and remove the thumbs. In a second or two, there will be an
explosion in a small "pop". This
was absolutely delightful for us students.
Then classmate TCC took a test tube, filled it with the hydrogen
sulphide, but stuck it into the outlet of a chlorine generating Kipp's
apparatus, and turned on the chlorine tap.
The result: a giant explosion, filling the lab with fumes. Mr Chu turned green with rage, and, I guess,
must have shouted "stupid fool" at him a few times, but I saw a touch
of his kindness by asking us to open the doors to clear the air, and he still
did not forbid us to do this experiment in future. .
One day, at a mid-term test (or a final exam?) he gave a
problem something like this: A mixture of X and Y were dissolved in z amount of
water, and titration showed that it took p amount of P or q amount of Q to
neutralize the mixture. Find the
percentage by weight of X and Y. .
Luckily, I was good in algebra. So I solved it. It turned out I was the only one in class
that got it. In fact I thought it a bit
unfair to those in class who may be weak in algebra but were otherwise good
students. I did other problems in that
test very well, so I got 107 points out of 100. .
Mr Chu is unsparing in giving very low grades to students,
and 20 or 30 points out of 100 was quite common. So this 107 points was one of the most
charming moments in my life. Mr Chu
never praised me in front of the class, but he would give me a smile which is a
sort of a grin. But that was good enough
for me. .
I had him as teacher for 3 years or more, and I majored in
math and chemistry as undergrad in HK Univ.
Back then, many of my friends wanted to become Einsteins, so they worked
very hard at physics. I did too, but I
blamed it on poor teachers that I eventually lost the ambition, and went for math
instead. I never got any distinctions in
physics. .
I can still recall those high school days when my
enthusiasm for chemistry, being fanned by Mr Chu, would prompt me to acquire my
set of test tubes and chemicals in many bottles, at home. .
After we went to HK Univ., sometimes we would come back to
QES, to visit who? Mr Chu of course. He
would kindly inquire on our affairs. He
is genuinely in love with his students. .
=========== NOW IN CHINESE ============
=========== NOW IN CHINESE ============
朱家輝來也﹗
胡蔭磐 2015/6
1955年秋﹐我在QES中四A班。朱老師來了﹐教我們化學。他享盛譽﹐來勢儼若一道旋風。港大理科畢業﹐英語講得流利﹐但仍有一口「香港腔」。
第一堂﹐即在黑板上寫下一大列要我們強記的東西﹐下一堂要我們任他考問（拷問）。例如﹕氫、鉀、鈉
的值是+﹐鈣鋇銅是++﹐鐵鋁是+++﹐氯化、硝酸、碘化﹐是負1﹐氧化、硫酸、硫化﹐是負2 ....
我們是中國人嘛﹗連荀子《勸學篇》都肯背﹐
怕啥﹗
下一堂﹐他果然逐排逐行來公審﹕每樣離子價值多少﹖答錯了﹐要罰寫30次﹐由班長襲名打報告。這令我們震驚了﹐此公果然是真要命的。
某同學貪過癮﹐混進隔壁中四B班去。被他一眼檢出來﹐罰站在一米高的高凳上。（還好﹐他不打手板的。）這同學﹐後來成績很好。可見嚴師出高徒。
最妙的是﹕他要我們在實驗室玩試驗。他教我們有些書本沒有的知識。例如﹕固體碘有點像砂糖﹐溶在酒精裡是深紫色﹐但溶在氨水裡時﹐就變成黑色的沉澱。我們用濾紙把這沉澱濾出來﹐趁濕時把半粒米的沉澱放在桌面上﹐十分鐘後﹐風乾了﹐你用鉛筆輕輕地敲它一下﹐它會突然『拍』一聲﹐爆成一縷紫煙……。我回家後照樣作給弟妹看﹐把他們嚇得不敢光著腳在樓板上走﹐怕踩到這些「爆炸品」。
另一天﹐他教我們拿兩條試管﹐一條裝著氨氣﹐另一條氯氣﹐兩手拇指蓋著它們﹐
然後管口相對﹐兩拇指一齊放開﹐管口吻管口。兩種氣體相混﹐突然「崩」然一聲﹐發生小爆炸了。
哎呀﹐好玩極了﹐原來朱老師也有他滑稽的一面。
忽然有一位T同學﹐把一條試管裝滿了氨氣﹐拿到玻璃櫃裡﹐把發出氯氣的KIPPS機的出氣管插進自己手上的試管裡﹐氯氣一出來﹐碰到管內的氨氣﹐便砰然一聲﹐白煙四冒。大家都驚了﹐但玻璃管沒有爆碎。
朱老師氣得七竅出煙﹐青著臉﹐不用粗口﹐但用他的港腔英語﹐大罵 You
Stupid Fool! You Stupid Fool! 我們忍不住大笑。那同學嚇得臉青了﹐我們想想這次老師要怎樣罰他﹖在操場跑九十圈﹖課後留堂清理實驗室﹖……
誰知﹐朱老師沒有罰他什麼﹐好像連他自己也笑。我們以為他笑那同學可以如此愚不可教、笨不可及。其實他可能是笑他自己年青時也作過這種傻事。
兩年後 1957 年夏季﹐我們考會考﹐很多同學拿到「優」或「良」﹐成績超越英皇書院﹐追上皇仁書院﹐但還是不及聖保羅男女校。我們QES 名聲此後大噪﹐到我們升到大學後﹐朱老師升官作副校長了。
我們這才明白﹐朱老師對我們這麼雷厲﹐這麼狠﹐其實是一片苦心。要我們死背氧氣九樣性質﹐氯氣十四項性能﹐原來他知道﹐多年來的試題﹐常說﹕「試列出氯氣的八樣性能。」所以他偏要我們死背十四項﹐等我們多一點機會拿優拿良﹐學校成名﹐他便高興了。我如今想起來﹐竟有點兒想下淚。
