Efe Goes to School
I promised I’d share my education experience with you guys. I hope the last two days provided a good background for that. Not even giving you the link here if you haven’t read them 😐
I think I was the last person to start writing in my class. I preferred the counting with bottle covers games we’d started with in playgroup. When my mum was told about it, she asked that I be left alone and that I would be inspired by jealousy to start writing so I could be like my mates. She was right.
I hated homework. Counting in two’s and three’s was a matter of overflowing tears. I would be so blinded with tears I would be unable to see the numbers on my 2A exercise book. My mum had to help do almost all my assignments till I was old and mature (ok 8 years old is mature, right?) Even then I still hated maths and my dad lost patience with teaching me. I think it was the word problems that did it. I could not fathom how I should let the number of boys be x. What was x? Why x and not p? How did boys or oranges or mangoes suddenly transform into x and transform back? I just couldn’t get it!
Equations too were a real pain. Negatives jumping over the river Niger (the = sign) suddenly became positives. Let’s not even talk about inequalities. Inventions of the devil. My mum had to learn maths all over again because of her first son. Salute to that great woman’s courage. I was not an easy child. All this while I was sucking my thumb (till age 11) and coming down with all the childhood diseases you could name. But she persevered and somehow I finished primary school.
The time came for secondary school and after passing the entrance exam, my name was somehow not on the admissions list. My mum had a church sister in the state ministry of education, who had to prevail on the principal to grant me my due place. I think my JSS 1 classmates were in class for over 2 weeks when I finally joined them.
Our maths teacher was a sharp witted hottie with geeky glasses. It was an all boys school in Kano (St. Thomas) and I think we all had a crush on her. Candy Crush in my case. Somehow maths became a bit less of a drag (or dragon in my case) and more of a time to look forward to. Plus, the demonic assignments had stopped with secondary school so this was fun. My grades went up slightly and I moved to 2nd position in class by the end of the year. Side eyes were made at the principal at the speech and prize giving ceremony when I was called up.
After JSS 1, my family relocated to Warri because of the religious riots in Kano. I had to do “direct entry” exams into class 2 in DSC Technical high school. A new class arm was created for the misfits, JSS 2F, and we were all thrown in there. Again, I resumed late because though I placed 14 out of 30 in the test, somehow the principal had other candidates. The vice principal was my mum’s French teacher in school and had to put his foot down to insist on my admission. When I resumed one month late, there were about 40 students in the class already, and counting. (My future wife was also in the same school then but we didn’t meet each other. We may have bumped shoulders one day during break but none of us remember now).
My classmates later told me I was on fire that first day in class, answering all the questions and being the new ITK (know-it-all) on the block. They called it smarting. I was oblivious of the culture of knowledge hiding until exam time. When results came out I was 60-something overall (for all the arms). I think subjects like home economics, office practice, shorthand, music, Christian religious knowledge, and Yoruba dealt with me and I could not be great. I also could not be bothered. I was running my personal race.
The next turning point for me was when I became a teen and entered senior secondary school.
The story is becoming longer than I thought let’s continue tomorrow please. LOL
Take good counsel and accept correction, that’s the way to live wisely and well. (Prov. 19 vs. 20 The Message)
I also had (and still have) a dislike to numbers and word problems.
I learnt one thing today.
My future wife attended FGC Port Harcourt. Of course we’ve not met.
–
Your man,
Niro
LOL I don’t know what to say about this future wife of a thing. Is it a prophesy or…?
It can’t be a prophesy.
FGC Girls are too idealistic. I wouldn’t want that 🙂
LOoool @ bottle covers!!! Mine was matchsticks.. Why p why not k?!!!! #okbye
BTW I decided to ignore the future wife something…….
LOL speak your mind and find peace for your restless inquisitive soul
Future husband did not attend any of my educational institutions so imma chill…..
Numbers!!! I had a colourful abacus that helped me at some point(pry 1 or 2) then the numbers spiritually,emotionally and physically multiplied so “countas” (wetin be bottle cover? ) was the way forward!
Search> pick > wash > dry > place in nylon for counting purposes!!
I can’t wait for tomorrow!!!!
LOL @ the search for countas
Aww! Can’t wait for tomorrow!
Maths plagued me throughout my days in THS, (yes I attended THS) 😀 I wasn’t disturbed till I learnt if I flunk maths no university… Dark days I tell you.
Hahaha most times by then it’s too late
Lmao. Oooh. U should have finished the story joo.
God how I hated maths in school. How I hated hated maths. Still do. It’s a big problem helping my daughter with assignments. *sigh* How I even managed to study accounting, and not have any carryover o drop out of uni mid way sill remains a mystery!
Modern day miracles 🙂
I think I loved school. my mum told me that when they wanted to take me to school, the school refused. they said I was too young. so my mum went to see the proprietress with me. while they were discussing, I’d taken biro and paper from the desk and was writing away.
First day of school, I sent mums home and was comforting the children who were crying for their parents.
Maths is still my best subject
Government, Biology and Chemistry sucked out my love of school. I think I almost gadgets a nervous breakdown in SS2
Seems we need to hear your story on your Blog. Maybe when you graduate? 🙂
maybe
This is nice.
I think maths and furthermaths were my best subjects. I hated biology and economics so much I prayed for my teachers to get involved in an accident on their way home everyday. Don’t worry they hated me too, cos they couldn’t understand why the maths teacher will talk so good about me in the staff room and I get flogged everyday for being a dundee in their classes. Oh well I managed to survive the torture of learning those stupid biological names and craming economical terms to pass waec. At the end of the whole thing my Father started to preach studying Medcine *Oh God not another biology*.
Today(or yesterday)’s post title cracked me up. Love! the photo too 😀 And the scripture for today.
I enjoy Mathematics (always have) and hate Physics- the thing is like jazz, walahi. Had an A3 in Math and a D7 in Physics in my first WAEC attempt. Even took up Further Math just to confirm I wasn’t the olodo my Physics teacher thought I was and it was pretty much a breeze (even though Derivatives almost destroyed my entire existence! >_< )
Chemistry, Economics, Food & Nut., whoop!
Biology, Geography, Meh.
Sooooo many of you like maths I’m starting to wonder where the myth came from. I failed chemistry a few times lol
lol the absolute worst was chemistry/integrated science – talking about atoms i couldn’t see splitting and forming some other stupid ass compound lol my chem teacher actually coached me through WAEC for free lmao God bless her soul!
Math is still a foggy marijuana cloud for me…. i can see the numbers and understand what they’re supposed to do but somehow have difficulty processing how it works. I started consciously doing basics sums in my head instead of a calculator so I don’t regress to nursery level math abilities. All my uni D/pass marks cannot be in vain…
Veery fun trip down memory lane for me… Thanks 🙂
Wish I could like this comment LOL
Such a happy and hopeful picture, this is..
This have been in the days before stories.ng was born. I never saw this post.
I love maths.
School was great in primary and secondary. After that it became a bore.
I remember transferring to a new school in Warri when I was 7 and they wanted to step me down by one class. By the time test was done, they were wishing they had a class above pry 3 so I’d be in it.
Being sent to akara school pretty early helped.
F was created in your time? looool.
LOL at future wife part. Loved school though. Me and le Hubs attended the same secondary school though. He was 3 years ahead and we never interacted in school too
Never saw this post before. The picture though…*holds belly, LOL*
I was an efiko in primary and secondary school, but something went wrong during ssce, and I failed Chemistry. I wasn’t crazy about maths, but I knew it well enough to pass. I HATED further maths, and avoided it like the plague. This later haunted me in Uni, cos I had to pass maths to graduate. It took 3 carry overs, and lots of tears, but I finally got a C. I still hate to see dy/dx. Ugh!
LOL I was doing heavy sums in my head since I was a child. Naturally brilliant uno. They used to call me from JS1 to answer JS3 questions. It made me lazy. Like, can’t be bothered lazy. By senior secondary school I was actually getting Fs. Because I didn’t care. School could have been a blast, if I had actually paid attention. I cheated myself.