Thanks for sharing your feeling of 40+ years. I felt sorry for what the school and teachers did to the sisters in Cs and Ds classes, it was certainly an ugly chapter of SHCC. As a mother of 3 grown children and grand-mother of 2 grand-daughters, I know what negative reinforcement can do to children.

Even though I was in B class, we experienced some form of discrimination too. During our Form 3 year, Mother Ida decided to split us into Science(A) and Art(B, C, D) classes. I was assigned to B, which meant that no Mathematic subject in our curriculum. A few of us went to talk to Mother Ida but were unable to convince her to let us take Mathematics. I was fortunate enough to have Gwendoline Yue tutored me during lunch hours and after-school hours. Eventually, I took and passed the Mathematic subject in the Hong Kong Certification Exam. For this, I am extremely grateful to Gwendoline for the patience and time sacrificed during those few years.

During my college years, I first majored in Mathematics and eventually switched to Computer Science, I graduated in the second Computer Science graduating class at UC Berkeley in 1973. After graduation, I stayed home for 7 years to raise our 3 children before pursuing my career in the Computer Science area, which have been very challenging and interesting. Without my high school Mathematic foundation, it would be hard for me to lead a career in the technical field. As a SHCCer, we learned to overcome obstacles in life with determination, will-power and hard-work.

I am happy to say that there is one SHCC teacher that impacted my life tremendously, that was the late Mrs Tse. Since my parents and relatives only had elementary school education, I did not have any role model to help me decide what options I have after high school, Mrs Tse opened the door to the overseas education for me and many of our sisters. She gave us detail information on the college entrance requirements, TOFLE examinations, colleges and universities in the States, the tuitions and scholarships. She helped us patiently and served as our college counselor. Without her advice and help, I do not think I would dare to leave my comfortable home and head for a strange country alone. Subsequently, my brothers and sisters followed my foot step.

After working 28 years in the IT industry, I decided to retire end of last year to spend more time in Chinese astrology, Qi-gong, charity works and badminton. I studied various Chinese astrology 10 years ago but was unable to devote more time while I was working fulltime. I have practiced Qi-gong for over 20 years and would like to use qi-gong to help others. I have been involved in an organization that supported 1000 girls in Shaanxi province from 4th grade to 12th grade since 2000, these girls will need our support in their upcoming college years. I am also involved in building hospitals and schools in China, the 2 websites that I am developing for them will be ready in a couple of months. Lastly, hopefully I can join my husband in the competitive badminton games in the near future if my games improve enough. With or without winning, badminton is a good form of exercise and we love it.

Good luck and be sure to come and visit me in the San Francisco area.

Amy

Isnt it wonderful that while we were “branded” by class designation then, all of us now emerged as mature, productive, and generally successful in our own definition ?

You, at least until just now, were always a Class A student to me. Honestly, I did not realize otherwise until I read your article. You are a prime example of someone who were motivated by tough environment, and accelerated yourself to reach for your highest good.

I do have one pet peeve to share. It’s time for us to show more of our grey hair. Is it just my diet / genetics or the prevalent use of coloring by others ? Just kidding.. being the only salt and pepper hair woman at the reunion gives me the air of eliteness that I did not have to compete for !! How great is that !

Thanks for sharing your insights.. and thanks for being there.
Norma