Passing With Flying Colors

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Just as with 80% of the other students I was also weak in my academic studies and was always criticized by my classmates who performed well in theirs. My father was a Class 1 ranking Officer who was always worried about his social status, so he constantly pressured me to enhance my performance in school. When I entered the 11th grade and chose science as my primary focus even though I was not interested in the subject, I chose to proceed because this was my father’s wish for me.  He wanted me to become an engineer, but I had my own passion for the performing arts with dreams of becoming a radio host or an actor.  

High School

The beginning of the 11th grade was OK, and I tried my best to pay attention in class and tried to absorb everything that my teachers taught to me. 2-weeks in and I began to lose my focus for the simple reason that I was not remotely interested in my selected subject area.  The only subject that helped me to cope with my boredom with the other classes was our computer class. I had a natural affinity for computer science, and I generally achieved fairly high marks in the class, and the reason for this is that I have been playing computer games since I was 3 years old.  The basics of computers were obvious to me, so I passed my days in school without studying much of anything related to my core subjects.  My friends were worried about their studies, but I was marching to the beat of my own drum and living in a dream-world until our mid-terms arrived.  My performance was poor, and I failed 4 of my core subjects and passed my computer course, where I achieved the highest grades in the class.  However, my father discovered the results of my exams, and he yelled at me and smacked me as I explained that I was unable to understand most of what these classes were designed to explain to me, but he didn’t listen.

Anger with my Father

I was angry with my father, but I didn’t make any changes to our relationship. My days were spent dwelling on feelings of despair, because I was certain that I would fail my final exams and that my father would kick me out of the house.  At this stage I began to feel mildly depressed, but this soon transformed into extreme depression.   One of my classmates was an exceptional student, but I always avoided speaking with her lest she taunt me and tease me for failing to achieve similar grades in our studies.  

Long Period of Absence

Once it happened that I was not going to school for 15 days because I was worried about what the other students would think of me, she came to my home in order to find out why I was missing.  She first attempted to force me to go to school the next day, but I gave her all kinds of reasons for not going (My studies, etc.).  After listening to me for 30 minutes she said that her patience was up and that she was not always the best student in the class – She was actually a poor student at one time, but she found a way to overcome this challenge.  Her life-changing guidance was that I should recognize it’s not my destiny that decides what subjects we love, but that I should focus upon the things that I am most interested in studying.

I began studying with her after our regular classes and my situation began to improve. Once I got the confidence that I could also do well in my subjects and so continued studying until I understood each major concept.   Next came the time to complete my final exams, and I was terrified about whether or not I would pass, but then I began to think of my parents as my friends and believed that I could do well in my studies.   

Once the test results came back we saw that I passed with flying colors, and my happiness primarily connected with the fact that I had learned a valuable life lesson about what I was capable of achieving.

- Anonymous Contributor