Every one of us, at some point, has someone who influences our lives in ways we only realise much later. Mr William Smith was one such person who influenced mine. As a high school student racing to the end of my schooling career, I pursued extra classes over weekends at the then University of Natal, in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
And it was here that I chanced upon a man who changed my perspective and my love for the above-named subjects. Smith did not simply teach Physics and Chemistry — he policed it — he "hammered" it, as it were. He enforced it — and even if one "hated" the subjects, he instilled a dimension of learning and love that one could not ignore.
His analogies to real life situations in his explanations of Physics and Chemistry to ensure understanding of the subject material was nothing short of brilliant.
He made learning fun — he strove to make the student grasp basic concepts in aspects that one "could not see" — in comprehending hypotheses that were the building blocks for creating solutions to problems — he created a vision in our "blindness" of concepts.
Rare is a pedagogue of such calibre who comes along and who never relented in his passion to disseminate education to his charges in ways that would benefit them for the rest of their lives, in one way or another.
Needless to say, I am a Science graduate, having majored in Biochemistry, and consider it a singular privilege to have been educated by a man who was a giant in his field of endeavour.
Sadly, his journey of life has come to an end, but his enduring legacy of passing the baton of education to countless students will forever remain — myself included. Go well sir. You will always be a legend in my eyes.
Narendh Ganesh | Durban
Daily News