If one man's destiny could be guided by another one, it really suits my case with my ex-master in charge of discipline at the grammar school.
Every new student within one week of admission into the private school Complexe Scholaire Shakespeare knows one particular master even if he knows no one else. Everyone recognizes Mr. Frederick even though some of the young ones think his name should be "Fearrick" as his presence is always threatening to all the students of the school.
As a chairman of the food committee and discipline, Mr. Frederick is seen everywhere, notebook in hand. He runs in and out of the kitchen and refectory, round the corner to the store, up and down the steps to the restaurant. He is determined there must be on waste of time or money. He is indefatigable in his determination to add flavour and food value to dull food and unrelenting in his pursuit of missing eggs and packets of sugar which seem to be absent without permission. The man was so demanding that people do not hesitate to exaggerate while discussing about his deeds. On good authority, I can deny two persistent rumours: he has never thought the hens in the school farm to answer the register; so far they have been very uncooperative; he does not count all the beans in every bag personally — he has assigned that duty to his assistants.
When some proud students have come to boast of their fathers' wealth by lavish display of personal possessions, coming to school with expensive suitcases and traveling bags, wearing large and valuable wristwatches, using costly wrappers as cover cloths, turning classrooms into fashion parades with students competing against each other and against the staff; dormitories full of quarrels, with poor students being accused as thieves every time some valuable article was carelessly misplaced by a wealthy student, Mr. Frederick did not hesitate to introduce the school uniform to solve the problem. While the students were claiming that heir self-expression, their freedom of choice and their individuality were being unduly restricted by the plain and serviceable uniform, he energetically replied that they were not sent to school to exercise their freedom of choice or develop their self-expression, but to work, be concentrated on their duties and as for the rest there would be plenty time for that later.
Despite all these activities and decisions, which he performs at a gallop, Mr. Frederick still finds time to look after his house, call for the register and teach history in senior classes. No one dares complain of being overworked with the example of this energetic teacher before them.
Although, physically, he is quite a small man, with blue eyes, curly hair, almost fifty years old, if he would stand still long enough to be measured, he would be about 167,5 cm which sounds taller. Those who leave his office with the impression that he is a Goliath 9-feet tall are those with a guilty conscience, but without their assignment, their exeats, their fees, or any acceptable excuses.
Anyone who has been in genuine difficulty or real trouble will know that Mr. Frederick hides a soft heart under a stern manner and a loud, but deep voice. If you dare to look into the eyes behind those thick heavy glasses, the expression is always very gentle. Mr. Frederick is too modest to let his frequent acts of kindness become generally known, but many students know how much they appreciate the wise guidance and good advice which they receive when they went to him with their problems.
The first time I come to be familiar with Mr. Frederick was the day I went to his office in order to explain the reason of my absence the day before. When I was about to open my mouth, he surprisingly stopped my by saying that all the school and the staff would have blamed me if I had come to school that day and also he himself was looking forward to sending his students in search of my lost small brother when he was informed that the boy had been traced unconscious under a mango tree. He wished a better recover for the boy and appeased my fear.
Then again the day I found a strange message in my copy-book. It was in June, while the students were seriously engaged in the preparation of their exams. After midnight, I felt really tired that I slept on my desk. One hour later when I woke up, I found a piece of paper in which it was mentioned:
"Pray hard,Play hard,Study while others are sleepingLife is a real struggle."
The advice gave me strength to aside by my revisions, but I was still worrying about the author of the message. After a careful analysis of the handwriting, I noticed that it was undoubtedly Mr. Frederick's. Those words are still the motto that encourages me when I feel tired all the time.
Thirdly, it was my dilemma after the success at the Baccalaureat. In fact I was hesitating between law and philosophy. Two months of deep analysis have not been sufficient to make my choice that I went to Mr. Frederick to have his point of view. He did not take time to convince me to go in for English faculty. According to him, by and large, all the societies using English as a second language have certain common features. Compared with Western societies, they have been in recent centuries underdeveloped technologically and economically. Such countries desire to catch up with countries of higher economic development. To achieve that goal they must provide computer science equipment and only those who know English will strongly benefit from the new items. He concluded that the serious analphabet of the following century will be undoubtedly the one who neither speak nor write English.
Finally, when I was devoted preparing material, collecting documents for my thesis dealing with the American literature, he asked me if I could not write anything about the African literature that is leading inevitably toward its death. I find out through my research that Mr. Frederick was right that I change my mind in order to describe the problems of the African writer in his society.
If I am really happy of my way of life: sample character, regular at school, proud to be in the English faculty, it is because, I have met someone like Mr. Frederick in my life. I am not saying that he is a saint without fault, but I am quite sure his frailties are so less visible to be noticeable. My advisor, Mr. Frederick is more and more getting old that I wonder myself what my future will be if one day, he passes away.