Shape of Education

In my life, I am driven by my need to be successful. To be successful in life is to have an education. From what I could recall my mother would always tell me that “having an education is the key to success”. I never knew how true my mother’s words were until I started the second
grade. My class was located on the west end of the school compound, while the upperclassmen were located on the east. I distinctly remember the classroom being painted a pale yellow, with freshly polished floors that shimmered from all angles. Having around fourteen two-seaters old dark wooden desk with scratched surfaces with the teacher’s desk placed in one of the four corners of the square-shaped room.

For the first nine years of my life, I was naturally ahead of my peers both in both writing and math. My mother and father were persistent in letting me understand the value of having an education by helping me each night with my school work. As a result, my mother decided that I should take extra lessons after school to further me academically ahead of my peers. When my mother was no longer able to afford me taking the extra lessons my teacher began treating me differently. She would inform my parents that I was not completing her assignments and that I was not obeying her directions.

Honestly, I think that during that year I was experiencing a rebellious phase and on top of that I did not like that my teacher who I once looked up to was treating me differently because of my family was financially struggling. In the end, my rebellious phase affected me because I was ranked ten out of twenty-eight in my class. Jamaica school system has a ranking technique that determines the student’s status in the class. When my mother and father found out about my performance let’s just say that my hands were bright red and my bottom was tender for days.

After that dreadful school year, I told myself that I will do everything within my power to become the best version of myself. With wanting to make myself better I found myself reading more often to increase my knowledge or just reading recreationally. Also, when my mother helped each night with my homework I was more compliant because I knew that she was helping me for my benefit and not every child had the luxury of having a parent that could help their child with their school work.

Two years after prior to migrating to the US, my performance in school improved tremendously allowing me to be ranked second place in third grade. The following year I did even better ranking first place in my fourth-grade class. When I was in fourth grade I was placed in the school’s assistant principal’s class, her name was Mrs. Burton. Initially, I was very intimidated because whenever I saw her around the school complex she would always have a stern expression on her face and many of the other students would talk about how strict she was. Thus, with being placed in her class I thought that she would have never liked me, however, I was wrong. I was glad that over the four months that I was in her class I was assigned as a class monitor. Being awarded this role was a pivotal moment in my life because being a monitor showed that she trusted me enough to watch over the class whenever she had to step out. Additionally, I was happy that during those few months we have developed a good relationship where she would encourage me to continue working hard and stay strong.

While some would call me a “kiss ass” or a “teacher’s pet” because I wanted my teachers to like me, I thought that developing a close relationship is paramount. Just over a few months of moving to New York, I realized why she Mrs. Burton was informing me to not lose focus because I saw both Americans and Jamaican alike not taking advantage of the privileges they are given. These students would not complete their assignments, some would backtalk to their superiors, and would no longer attend school. Knowing that I am coming from a third world country allowed me to use all the resources that were given to me wisely.

However, once again I feel off track when I was in the sixth grade because I began following the wrong crowd. But I remembered where I came from and the sacrifices that were made. For the next two years, I was told that I was the valedictorian of my graduating class. At the time I was not aware of what being a valedictorian meant.

Till this day I strive to be the valedictorian in all I do by setting goals for myself. Which is why I firmly believe that my experience from the past had helped to shape who I am becoming.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.