Guy Diatta
Dr. Kramer-Reynard
English 105
Paper assignment #1

My Experience in School: Learning the Hard Way

I always hated school. Well, actually that was before I relocated to the United States. Way before I found out that my teachers were not the enemy, but adults that dedicated their lives to education and exert so much effort into guiding us through our quest for knowledge. My enmity for school had nothing to do with its purpose; it was not related to education. My grudge was against my educators, my so-called teachers.
I remember when I was in high school, in my eleventh grade, the worst year of my school life. My chemistry teacher used to tell us: “Do not try to have an A in my class. I, myself know it is not possible for any of you. So what I ask you to do is to study as hard as you can and maybe you can get a C”. As a student, how should I interpret it? I was sixteen, and all I felt was anger for being belittled and found not smart enough to pass his class. I am pretty sure most of my classmates felt the same, but it gave to some of us the urge to prove him wrong. High school to me was a constant fight, a path sowed with obstacles in order to make it harder for me or should I say to make me fail. We were not allowed to judge, everything was dictated and everything had to be written in a determined pattern with specific colors, highlights and arrangements. All we needed to know was in our notebooks and in order to pass our classes we had to memorize every single word written throughout the year.
My teachers believed in hard work, and unconsciously I was being programmed to seek recognition and respect by studying harder every day. My hatred grew into admiration as I matured and graduated from high school. But I had to ask, I had to know why my teachers used to act with so much indifference toward us. The answer my math teacher gave me left me speechless. He delivered it with a smile, I guess because I graduated the year before with honors, and