Dear Editor, permit me to share this touching story that mirrors what our kids pass through in school.
Read:
Anytime it’s school time I get sad.
Yes I mean sad not because I don’t like school but because I feel I don’t belong there.
My teachers say everyone is better than me because they get better grades in tests and exams.
My teachers always compare me with others but how can I dare tell them that am different from them.
My teachers always say I don’t do well even though they teach me well but how can I tell them that the teaching method they use doesn’t favour me even though it favours the majority.
How can I tell my teachers that I just need motivation not condemnation.
I wish I can be bold to tell my teachers that I have to be understood not to be compared.
My maths teacher says i am good for nothing because am not good in calculations.
My science teacher says I am useless because I always get low grades.
My English teachers say I have no future because I can’t express myself fluently in the white man’s language.
They seem to have forgotten that I am the one that led the school soccer team to win that trophy.
I am the same student that always play those drums to the admiration of all.
Sometimes when I ask why they don’t consider what I do as important they tell me WAEC doesn’t ask those in examinations.
Tears always fill me but I can’t pour them because no one understands me.
My parents can’t even understand me because my teachers make them believe I’m good for nothing.
I thought my parents will tell them that I repair all the electrical appliances in the house without any training.
Who will hear me now because i and many who are like me are being destroyed
Who will help tell them that even though we might not be able to get the certificate, we have great talents?.
Who will help tell teachers that they should not force their dreams on us but guide us to nurture our God given talents?
Who will hear our cry?
I am one of the voices of the many silent voices in the class.
Copied and felt it should be an eye opener for Parents,teachers,Administrators and all lovers of growth and development of our future leaders with different and rare talents.
We should not limit growth to certificate qualification alone.
Udoka from Lagos.