Reflections on a teacher's impact

How many of you remember Paul Johnson, Mr Johnson, or more likely 'PJ'.

Back in the mid 80s, his classroom was in the long old wooden maths block, towards the sports hall end. And it had computers! For those too young to be impressed by this statement, do some Googling.

He had BBC Micros, Commodore PETs, a MuPET network, robots, old calculators, and a 5¼ inch floppy disk drive that was about the size of two breeze blocks. It was heaven. People in our year could tap out the programme for RECCOS (Soccer) or Snake in a few mins, and for many, that was a key consumer of the lunch break. 

He might not have known it at the time, but he had a major impact on my life. I blame him (in a purely positive way) for getting into computers in the first place. He would task me, and my friend James Fountaine, (if anyone knows his whereabouts, I am keen to get back in touch) with updating and maintaining all the OWS data, and printing it off. James and I would regularly be given the keys to the computer room for the weekend and would hide away until the work was done. Trusting two fourteen-year-olds with the keys, data and a load of computers that probably cost a pretty penny, might seem a little alien these days. But thinking back on it, what a privilege it was. 

I'm not sure at that time I realised the trust that he put in us to get the job done; and I certainly didn't realise that it would spark something that would become career defining. The seemingly small act of trust and responsibility by a single teacher had a significant impact. Now don't get me wrong I still never loved maths, but that computer room, and more importantly PJ, will remain very special. I would have loved to have been able to tell him this myself, but I can't, instead PJ can be found in the dedication of my book. It reads, very simply 'To PJ, who got me into computers.' 

What a fabulous man who made time for me, trusted me, and to whom I owe a lot.

Written by Peter Vasey, OW 1988