Mr Parkinson

After getting back from my holidays in Pakistan, I had heard rumours that my old high school biology teacher, Mr David Parkinson, had unfortunately passed away. I decided to phone my old high school today to confirm this news and unfortunately the rumours were true :( I have mentioned in previous blog posts how Mr Parkinson was one of my favourite teachers in high school and an inspiration for my career in medicine. He actively encouraged us all to strive for the best possible outcome and be proud of what we achieve.

The year my younger brother was born, my parents decided to switch cities for a better family life and with that I left behind The Brooksbank School (an excellent school!) to start at The Grange Upper School. I distinctly remember having started my first day as the new girl and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, watching and analysing my every single move. That’s to be expected right? New place, new people. After spending morning registration filling out the timetable in my new planner, I was escorted to my first lesson of the day by a fellow classmate called Munira. Just as I was about to step into the classroom for my first lesson at my new school, Munira stopped and whispered, ‘Try not to be too afraid’. Okay, what now? Was that supposed to make me feel comfortable because it did quite the opposite!

“Class, today we will be having a test!” was the bellowing voice that greeted me as I stepped inside the room. A quick spin on his heels and I was face to face with my new biology teacher. Munira introduced us, I was welcomed into the classroom and a test paper was placed into my hands.

‘But, I haven’t revised’ I stuttered. ‘Just do your best... THAT is all I ask’ came the reply and with that I was shown to my seat. I remember the table layouts very clearly, two boys and two girls to each table and my table had Kassim, Amar and Misba (who I had been informed was the class swot. But what do I care, she seemed friendly enough towards me). My first day went well and the following day I had biology again where we received our test results. As soon as the last person entered the room, the door slammed shut. BANG! Wow! Did that make me jump and I looked around the room only to find that no one was bothered by it.

*Charging around the room* ‘ALL I ask is that you pay a little attention in class. For your future!!! These results *shakes his fistful of test papers*... these results are appalling! Not one of achieved your full potential. Not one of you! Except for THIS young lady!

The frantic pacing around the room had stopped, however I was too busy wallowing in self pity at having given such a crappy paper and had my head hung in shame that I hadn’t noticed Mr Parkinson had stopped by our table. I looked up and remembered that I sit next to Misba (the class swot) and I was genuinely pleased that one of us had done well. However much to everyone’s surprise it wasn’t her!

‘SAIMA has managed to gain a better than any of you AND without any revision or prior knowledge of the syllabus! Well done Saima. You should be proud of yourself!”

Me? I gasped doing my best goldfish impression, which was also beautifully mirrored by Misba, sat next to me. And then a thought entered my head – being singled out and showing up the rest of the class was NOT a good way to make new friends. This was bad news for me socially... except it wasn’t as I apparently became more approachable and a friendlier version of Misba, lol. As for Mr Parkinson, he went on to teach me GCSE Biology and Chemistry, I attended his extra science classes after school and when it came to choosing my A levels subjects, I was clear on which subjects I should choose for a medical career. However I still kept my fingers crossed hoping that I would have Mr Parkinson for my biology classes and it was a relief when I saw his name appear on my new subject timetable.

I will never forget that first glimpse of Mr Parkinson on my first day; a jade green suit, huge glasses and spiky hair that kind of bordered on a mullet type hairstyle. He preferred using the blackboard and whenever he wrote on it, he had this habit of always licking his piece of chalk - odd I know. He always carried a huge rucksack, didn’t drive a car and preferred to walk. He liked his coffee strong and you could always smell it when you entered the science lab. He loved his coffee so much that he had numerous mugs strewn about the room, some would be forgotten and you would often find them a couple weeks later with some sort of mould growing inside the mug - clearly not a nice thing to find!

He was open to the idea of different religions and you would often find him casually slipping in a ‘Bismillah’ here or a ‘MashAllah’ or ‘InshaAllah’ into our conversations with him. He treated us like adults, responsible for our own actions and for him he meant it and it wasn’t just a series of clichés. If Mr Parkinson was angry, well you would definitely know about it. Doors would be slammed, raised voices would be heard down the corridor and he was quite happy to hand out after school detentions and stay behind personally to see them through. He detested lack of punctuality and those that really rubbed him up the wrong way would often be locked in the adjacent prep room until he felt the pupil had learnt their lesson.

I don’t think I ever got into trouble with Mr Parkinson and I can only remember one incident in which I was gently taken to one side and reprimanded for speaking ill of someone behind their back. Wow did that make me feel ashamed! I was ashamed that I left myself down by joining in with the gossip mongers but more ashamed that I had let him down. Just that one minor incident was all it took for me to learn a valuable lesson and how it was nice to be nice to others. Surely that gives some indication of how much I thought of this man and how much his opinion mattered.

He went above and beyond his assigned teaching duties to make sure we got a good education and actually made learning fun, which is no easy task. I remember many fun biology lessons where he specially arranged for us to do dissections, took our A level class on outdoor field trips and was always on hand to provide help and support. Our A level class size was much smaller than the GCSE cohort and we became an even closer knit group. Some of the guys in our A level class felt that he favoured the girls more than the boys and they (Ismail I’m looking at you!) felt that this was unfair, but neither Arooj or I felt that we were ever treated differently from the boys.

As for me, I think being singled out in his class sort of set the tone for our student/ teacher relationship. He took into account our views and advised us on what to do best, he calmed us down when we got all panicky and those of us who got to know him better discovered he had a great sense of humour. All in all Mr Parkinson (or ‘Parky’ as we nicknamed him in private) was a very lovely man and I am glad I had the honour of meeting him. I believe that the day we left high school, that yes, we did leave behind an excellent teacher but personally I feel I had gained a good friend that I could rely on for sound advice. Subsequently after starting university, I did go back to see Mr Parkinson, I found he was always welcoming and eager to find out how I was doing. I will miss our regular catch ups and part of me still can’t believe he has truly gone. Mr Parkinson was such a good man, an excellent teacher and extremely supportive of the ambitions of his students. He will be deeply missed. May he rest in peace.