Each time I reminisce on the events that occured in highschool, I feel more gratitude towards Mr. T, for without him I may have chosen a path which I mostly likely would have regretted for the rest of my life.
Right from when I was younger, I always had this knack to be different whether I felt comfortable with it or not. This was probably due to the fact that I disliked 'competition' so much, especially when my siblings were involved.
Fortunately or do I say unfortunately for me, I come from a house filled with really smart people and this alone automatically fueled the fire of competition amongst us. We usually said things like
"Oh,my elder brother had an A of 97 when he was offering this subject, so I ought to have an A of 99."
I never took these things lightly because It felt like I was being pushed beyond my limit. So, when it was time to specialise in highschool, I ran right into the arms of the art teacher because all my siblings graduated as science students. So invariably, I didn't have any benchmark to live up to.
About a month after I started taking intensive art lectures, I was called out by my favourite teacher, Mr.T. I came out of class smiling because I thought he wanted to praise me as usual for the 'job well done in the just concluded further mathematics test' but to my utmost surprise, I saw my mom standing outside the classroom.
"Mummy good afternoon. Good after sir," I greeted the both of them. Without sentiments my mom continued the conversation she has already began having with Mr.T
"Here she is, you are free to ask her by yourself " my mom said, her gaze directed towards Mr. T
"Ask her what?" I muttered in confusion. To the best of my knowledge,I hadn't done anything wrong so what was this mini gathering about.
"Ehm, Wongi, is it true that you've been attending art classes for the past one month?" Mr. T asked.
"Yes sir," I said in affirmation
"Ahh!" He yelled like his internal organs had just been liquified. "No , no, no, I do not believe what I am hearing" he said as he winced even more.
"Sorry that I didn't tell you about the decision I made earlier but I have chosen to be an art student sir." I responded in a bid to try easing the pain he must have been feeling.
"Why?!* He asked almost immediately after I finished speaking.
"Because I like history, and literature and I also got really high grades in my art subjects from last session so I thought it right to…"
"Thought it right to what? Throw away your future?"
"I do not understand what you mean sir" I said looking at the man and then looking at my mom to get some form of closure. Nothing?
"What did you score in your chemistry, physics and biology exams last session*
"I scored 88, 87 and 75 respectfully sir" I responded. These were relatively poor scores in comparison to my siblings' results when they were in my place.
"Then why are you now in arts classes?"
"Because I didn't have anything lower than a 93 in any of my art subjects" I retorted.
"I would urge you to immediately switch to science subjects starting next week. I say this because I just finished marking your further mathematics scripts and you were among the top three best students. Also, I've seen you during science classes and all I can tell you is that you're wired to be a science student" Mr. T said. I wasn't convinced by this in slightest although I knew that everything he said was true.
I was fairly comfortable taking my art classes but the just concluded speech from Mr. T provided ample food for thoughts. On second thought, I wondered which art student would mention "further mathematics and general mathematics'" as their two favourite subjects as these were my favourites.
After the speech, Mr. T dismissed me but told me to sleep on what he had just said. It didn't take me too long to locate where I truly belonged.
From the next week, I began attending science classes and I always had this 'lost but found' feeling. The feeling when you get when you come in contact with something or someone that has been missing from your life for quite a while.
With Mr.T vouching for me every step of the way, my transition was a very smooth one. Now that I think of it, I most likely wouldn't have survived so long in an art class.
Love, Wongi ✨
Thank you for sharing a story from your life with The Ink Well.
You use dialogue to good effect but need to pay a little bit more attention to details like misplaced capital letters and spelling errors that could easily be fixed with some simple editing. It doesn't detract too much but without them, your piece would certainly feel more polished. You also introduce an interesting angle with respect to the competitiveness among your siblings. I would have loved it if you had explored this a bit more. A nice piece, Wongi. I'm glad you ended up pursuing what brought you more joy, although clearly you have an aptitude for both!
I am glad you were able to go back to the department you were comfortable with.
You doing well in art subjects shows how knowledgeable and versatile you are.
Thank you for sharing dearest.
Thank you for coming around Sisi😊
Do you think in that time you were mature enough to take decision which you have taken? I don't think so. Without any kind of discussion with your parents how you can take that kind of decision?
Didn't they punish you for that?
They didn't punish me because my mom in freewill.