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After primary school I continued my education at the Italian Lycée [Italian Catholic high school in Istanbul]. I studied from grade 6 to grade 12 there. Our school was next to the Italian Consulate. They taught Italian, Turkish, French and English in this school. Those who preferred, could take French or English as a second foreign language. I chose French. We also had to choose between Accounting and Latin; I chose Latin because those who studied Latin at high school could go and study the university in Italy. Those who chose Accounting could not go on to university. At that time I was planning to go to Italy for my university studies. My goal was to become an engineer.
At high school, my favorite teacher was our geography teacher, Prof. Faro. He was not Jewish. He was a very good teacher and was friends with all the students. He used to treat us as a friend, he used to tell us stories and then he would begin classes. He used to start the class by talking to us for the first 5-10 minutes to relax us, and then he would say, “Come on kids, open your books now so we can start class”. All the students liked him as much as I did. There were not any teachers that I disliked.
The headmaster of our school was quite a hard man. He was Italian, he came from Italy. He was very strict and had quite a temper. He got angry real fast, and we were all quite frightened of him. I wanted to go to Italy after high school and become an engineer but it wasn’t to be. My family’s economic situation was not good so I had to start working. I finished high school but couldn’t go on, I started to work.
At high school, my favorite teacher was our geography teacher, Prof. Faro. He was not Jewish. He was a very good teacher and was friends with all the students. He used to treat us as a friend, he used to tell us stories and then he would begin classes. He used to start the class by talking to us for the first 5-10 minutes to relax us, and then he would say, “Come on kids, open your books now so we can start class”. All the students liked him as much as I did. There were not any teachers that I disliked.
The headmaster of our school was quite a hard man. He was Italian, he came from Italy. He was very strict and had quite a temper. He got angry real fast, and we were all quite frightened of him. I wanted to go to Italy after high school and become an engineer but it wasn’t to be. My family’s economic situation was not good so I had to start working. I finished high school but couldn’t go on, I started to work.
Location
/İstanbul
Türkiye
Interview
Sami Schilton