We girls had little choice as to timetables. We studied English, Mathematics, Science, Geography, Religious Education, Physical Education, French or Afrikaans, History, Art, Music, and Domestic Science. The latter course taught us not only how to sew both by hand and by machine, but also how to prepare meals, bake, clean, launder, starch, and iron, knowledge designed to turn us into good housewives, even if this meant simply teaching and supervising our African servants. Male students in their boys’ high schools learned woodwork and metal work, how to repair car engines, and the like. No young man would be expected to know how to cook. He, too, would simply employ an African house servant, someone who knew how to carry out such work. Our family was very unusual in not employing African servants. I suspect that my parents did not approve of the system, and that they believed that their children should learn household chores. Although servants were paid a pittance, it also meant that we didn’t have that extra expense, too.
Girls in the more academic classes did not learn how to type, either. It was believed that we young women were unlikely to become secretaries. Who would ever have thought that computers would be invented and that everyone would need to type? I was in my mid-forties, living in Ottawa, Canada, when I finally took myself to evening classes, determined to learn how to type.
I took my Ordinary O-Level examinations at 16 years of age, in Form IV, as was the norm (though less able students had the option of taking another year, Form V, to complete these courses), and continued into what was called Lower Sixth, where, for the year, I took four subjects, instead of the usual three: French, English, Latin and Geography, a heavy workload. I gave up Geography when I entered Upper Sixth, still working towards my Advanced A-Level examinations. All Rhodesian examinations papers were marked in Britain by a state-run Board of Education called the General Certificate of Education.
By this time, I knew I was heading towards a Languages Degree at the University College of Rhodesia (UCR), an external college of the University of London, England (for its arts courses, at least). I wanted to study French and to become a high school teacher. I absolutely adored the language and earned high marks. I had even won a nation-wide essay-writing competition organized by the Alliance Française, and sometimes went to evening conversation classes at the Alliance Française, too.
