Worse School Experience

My worse school experience was in my standard five class. After lunch each day my class teacher Ms Williams, would give students a mental assessment test .Any student who got less than five correct, would be whipped across the palms of the hand with a ruler and placed to the back of the classroom with both hands extended above your head.

Mathematics was always a struggle for me, but I tried my best. On one occasions I flopped the entire assessment. I can still remember my teacher’s exact words, “stand up!” she shouted. She pulled me to the front of the class and whipped me across the hand with her ruler then sent me to the back of the class with my arms extended above my head. I felt so humiliated and ashamed and began crying

There was another

I had succeeded and that’s what mattered to me. I did exactly what she said I could not have done. As time passed, I learned to let go of negatives and to keep that inner sense of self-worth. Due to the challenges in primary school I made up my mind that I will pursue that path of becoming a teacher so that I can help others who encounter similar challenges.

My secondary school experience was a great improvement compared to primary school. Mr Khan my mathematics teacher changed the negativity I developed about teachers and showed me that excellent and passionate teachers do exist. I was fortunate to have to have Mr Khan as a teacher. He challenged me because he believed I had a great potential. His passion for teaching and learning shaped the person I am today. More importantly cemented my decision to become a part of this important, evolving and aristocratic profession.

He pushed me to reach my full potential. He assessed the competence of the class and worked to suit. He gave us assignments, went through each topic with us one by one and we progressed steadily, and we would spend half of the class doing work and the other half just casually talking about