in Bermuda was when they closed Tech down because the school was not just another technical school,'' says former student Dennis Hart.

"At one stage, our academic passes, in terms of GCEs, were on par with Berkeley and Warwick Academy. We had some brilliant students and there was always that other outlet where the guy who was not so academically inclined could be taught a trade and still have the respect and dignity of a guy who went on to achieve great academic heights. I think the educational system did our kids an injustice by closing that school because, let's face it, everybody in Bermuda is not going to end up being a doctor or a lawyer. There has to be an outlet for kids who can work with their hands the technical sides of their minds.

"Until something is done to bring back a school such as Technical, or, at the very least, integrate that into the present system, I believe our kids are gonna be really lost. I really do.'' So says Hart, now manager of the Automotive Services Department at Pearman Watlington.

Starting at PWs as a day release student, while still in his fourth year at Tech, joined the company on a permanent basis in 1964 as an apprentice after he had graduated in the mechanical shop. Since then he has worked his way through the ranks of the company to his present position, which involves the general overseeing of mechanical repairs, body work and spray painting.

And, it's quite obvious when talking with Hart that he holds Technical Institute in very high regard. "Well, I think that, most of the guys who went to Tech, particularly in those early years, will tell you that we really had a great sense of pride. Tech was supposedly the other technical school on the island, Cunningham's being the other,'' he explains. "However, the thing that really set us apart was that academically, Tech had some very high standards and we had teachers at that school who accepted no less than excellent from us, people like Mr. Clegg in chemistry, Vivian Sweeting in English and Dr.

Clifford Maxwell with maths.'' Hart also speaks with particular admiration about another teacher, George Henderson. "Mr. Henderson was our mechanical engineering teacher, but he wasn't just a teacher, he was almost like a part-time father to us. I guess we all went though a stage when we might have thought we hated the man because he was such a perfectionist, but he wanted so much for us.

"He got us involved in, not only becoming qualified mechanics, but going as far as the technicians level. One of the things he said to us and repeated throughout our studies was that he was there to teach and he was going to make sure we learned,'' Hart recalls. "But he didn't want to teach us the trade if all we wanted to be was, in his words, spanner operators. He wanted to know that 10, 15 years down the road he wouldn't be coming to our places of business and seeing us still on the workshop floor, fixing cars. He wanted us to strive higher and this is something that all the guys who went to Tech, in my era, and a few classes down, had instilled in us.'' Hart also claims that having older students to emulate as role models and as yardsticks of achievement made a positive and lasting impression upon him.

"One of the things that was good was that the older students tried to exert their authority in a way that was always a motivating type of thing.

They were always motivating us to try and achieve a little bit more. "If you were slouching around in school, you might be given a little smack upside the head and told that Tech boys don't walk around like that.

Also, you had guys like Ross Smith and Reg Minors, who some of the younger fellas looked up to because they were tall, first of all, but also because they were achieving certain things in their classes.'' Looking back on his experiences at Technical Institute, Hart believes that he was fortunate to have attended that institution. "I think going to that school and beingassociated with the teachers there proved to be very beneficial to me,'' he points out.

"There was a strong male presence and, I believe, most of us looked up to those male figures because a lot of us guys who went to Tech actually came from single parent homes, so having that male figure was extremely important for us.

"I also thought that there was such a sense of caring, first, and then educating. We were treated with respect and then they imparted the education and the knowledge to us.

"In the end, I really think that made for a good combination.'' No caption SEPTEMBER 1993 RG MAGAZINE