Jan de Visser

From 1974 to 2005, I was a happy maths teacher

I had the greatest job on earth! Trying to teach dozens of 12 to 18 year olds every day, something that I was good at and had fun doing. The first year I taught maths as well as physics. That was a 13-hour job at
2nd grade level, so undergraduate classes. But what I didn’t know then was that I had done the right subjects for the MO-B degree with my math studies to get that paper. So from 1975 I was a first grade teacher with a full job of 26 hours (I was paid for 29 hours, so called “chimney hours”).
In this period from 1974 to 2005 it was a time with highs and lows privately. Married twice but also divorced twice. From the first marriage two daughters were born, Hanna and Jacomine. After the divorce, they were assigned to me by the judge. That was not very common at the time and difficult for me at the beginning.
With a full job and two small children, life was a puzzle. No car, so in the morning on the bike, one in front on the bar and one on my school bag on the back – in those years I ate empty sandwiches every day. At a bus stop on the Willem de Zwijgerlaan they were then picked up by the teacher of the Elkerlycschool in Leiderdorp with her car. If the teacher was sick, I drove with them to school and then they were kept busy that day by Henriette and the then rector Ad Vaessen. For my daughters, the teacher couldn’t stay sick long enough. I am still grateful to school for the way I was helped in those days. The schedule maker made sure I finished every day at three o’clock, and on Wednesday afternoons off, so I could pick up the children from school.
In those years I had a lot of support from my neighbours, but also from colleague Cees Otto and his wife Nia Berk (who unfortunately passed away much too early in 2016). If I had to go somewhere or I was a bit down, I could always bring my daughters to them. By the way, the fact that Cees joined the RLO is a bit due to me (I say with satisfaction): I had been taught by his father, a gifted English teacher, so when the son applied for a job with us, I said, ‘If he teaches as well as his father, then you should take him’. And so it happened.
Funny but strange was the fact that I taught both my daughters. Hanna, the eldest in 4 and 5 havo – that gave no problem at all. Teaching Jacomine in the first form was sometimes confusing for her: when I asked the class
after a brilliant explanation if there were any questions (of course there were not) she raised her finger and asked ‘Dad, can I play at Suus’ place this afternoon?’ I still had to explain the difference between school and home questions. And so, after 31 years of delightfully teaching all classes, from first form to 6vwo (with a preference for 4 and 5 havo) it was 2005. Great fatigue (the two stairs to my classroom 40, now 209, I just barely made it) brought me through the family doctor to a cardiologist: I needed a new heart valve soon. On February 15 I gave my last lessons and on March 16 I was operated on in the OLVG in Amsterdam. After a long rehabilitation I went straight into early retirement.

And what have I been doing for the past 20 years? At the beginning I missed school very much: my students, my (smoking) colleagues, the teacher’s room with the plastic smoke curtain. At first I didn’t dare cycle past school, afraid that a colleague would see me and say, “You can cycle, so you can also teach again!”. Fortunately, that feeling wore off quickly and then I picked up my big hobby again: making beautiful things out of wood, such as chess games, tables, chairs, coasters, mini-libraries and, of course, farewell boxes for teachers of the Rijnlands who retired after a long school career. The Rijnlands years have brought me a lot: a very enjoyable time and many friends and girlfriends. From this large group I would like to mention three: the pensionados John Swieringa, Cees Otto and Aad Roeleveld, with whom I have been playing billiards weekly for about 40 years. But the nicest thing I have kept from the Rijnlands Lyceum is Ineke van der Sar, since the special first day of school of the second millennium my partner. She is now also retired, so there is now more time to do things together. Finally, I would like to mention groups that are very important to me: the OOP, people such as Rob Bouwman, Peter Korbee, Mr. Huis, Jan van den Berg, Cees Bakker, Coby, Janny, Henriette and Pieter. Together with the school management and my colleagues in the maths section, they made sure that work at the Rijnlands always ran smoothly. Thank you all!

Jan de Visser (former RLO teacher 1974-2005), May 2025