A man, possibly the father of an eleven plus child, was out
for a walk one day. He was in deepest China. He suddenly came across a tiger.
He grabbed a vine and swung himself over the nearby cliff. He looked up in
terror – the tiger was peering over the edge – saliva dribbling from its jaws.
Hurriedly the man looked down and, to his horror, there were
two more tigers looking up – just waiting for him.
Just above his reach two little mice started biting away at
the vine. The mice did not respond to his yells and kept on munching away.
He saw a wild flower on a little ledge – just below the mice
– and reached up with one hand. He plucked the flower, sniffed it, and
remarked: “How sweet the smell!”
But, could this be the real story?
A man, certainly the father of an eleven plus child, was out
for a walk one day. His son asked him to help with an eleven plus question. “Dad,
you said last night that the eleven plus is a chore. What did you mean by that?”
“Well son, your mother and I have to make a considerable
effort to help you towards your eleven plus goal. We don’t mind buying papers
and services for you and we don’t mind the time we spend with you. We rather enjoy
the time together actually.”
“What is it that you do not like?”
“The arguments.”
“Which ones?”
“The ones about how much work you should do, and when you
should do the work.”
“I am sorry. I promise that I will try harder.”
The sweet smell of eleven plus success!
