Matilda

I thought I should like to share these bits from the book Matilda, written by Roald Dahl. He was a genius with sparks flying out of his head the author of many children's books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on which the film was based. In the story, Matilda is a five-year-old child genius, who lives with a family that just thinks there's something wrong with her and wants to get rid of her as soon as possible.

In the following excerpts, her teacher, Miss Honey, goes for a home visit to see what they are like. Imagine having a PTC like this.

Excerpt 1

'I see,' Miss Honey said. 'Well, all I came to tell you was that Matilda has a brilliant mind. But I expect you knew that already.'

'Of course I knew she could read,' the mother said. 'She spends her life up in her room buried in some silly book.'

'But does it not intrigue you,' Miss Honey said, 'that a little five-year-old child is reading long adult novels by Dickens and Hemingway? Doesn't that make you jump up and down with excitement?'

'Not particularly,' the mother said. 'I'm not in favour of blue-stocking girls. A girl should think about making herself look attractive so she can get a good husband later on. Looks is more important than books, Miss Hunky...'

'The name is Honey,' Miss Honey said.
___

Excerpt 2

'Matilda, so far as I can gather at this early stage, is also a kind of mathematical genius. She can multiply complicated figures in her head like lightning.'

'What's the point of that when you can buy a calculator?' Mr Wormwood said.

'A girl doesn't get a man by being brainy,' Mrs Wormwood said. 'Look at that film-star, for instance,' she added, pointing at the silent TV screen, where a bosomy female was being embraced by a craggy actor in the moonlight. 'You don't think she got him to do that by multiplying figures at him, do you? Not likely. And now he's going to marry her, you see if he doesn't, and she's going to live in a mansion with a butler and lots of maids.'

Miss Honey could hardly believe what she was hearing. She had heard that parents like this existed all over the place and that their children turned out to be delinquents and drop-outs, but it was still a shock to meet a pair of them in the flesh.

'Matilda's trouble,' she said, trying once again, 'is that she is so far ahead of everyone else around her that it might be worth thinking about some extra kind of private tuition. I seriously believe that she could be brought up to university standard in two or three years with the proper coaching.'

'University?' Mr Wormwood shouted, bouncing up in his chair. 'Who wants to go to university, for heaven's sake! All they learn there is bad habits!'

'That is not true,' Miss Honey said. 'If you had a heart attack this minute and had to call a doctor, that doctor would be a university graduate. If you got sued for selling someone a rotten second-hand car, you'd have to get a lawyer and he'd be a university graduate, too. Do not despise clever people, Mr Wormwood. But I can see we're not going to agree. I'm sorry I burst in on you like this.' Miss Honey rose from her chair and walked out of the room.
____

P.S. I have actually heard about parents like these, even in Singapore, but I've never actually met one. Has anyone?