Late 3 days in a row for final exams!?
Teachers, the elevators to a richer life…
What does a headteacher do, when a student is late for the year 9 final exams, three times in a row?
India has had the tradition of celebrating Teachers day since prehistoric times on a summer full moon day and in the modern times, a second secular version is observed on 5th Sep. Whereas, UNESCO established teachers’ day as recently as in 1994, and most countries celebrate it on 5th October.
With the level of commercialisation for Mothers day, Fathers day, Valentines day etc, it is utterly disappointing to see teachers day not gaining such a prominence.
Somehow I see teachers everywhere, amongst friends and foes alike. How did this attitude come to be?
Going back, to my primary years, Mrs Higgins, an Anglo-Indian teacher who I still vividly remember, applied many gentle tactics to keep me on the leash. (Unfortunately I have a strong memory!) incidentally my entire family went to the same school and I was the last one in our generation to go to that school.
So, Mrs Higgins knew my whole family and that meant, there were very few avenues for mischief.
Well that didn’t stop me, did it?
Bless those patient and caring teachers like Mrs Higgins, I have turned out to be useful product to the society!
Though I was scoring decently in my academics, I was notorious for my mischief. People were surprised about my mischievous behaviour, especially given the fact, my home was right next to the Headteacher’s and the assistant Headteacher.
My school was known for its strictness in the entire town. It was also well known for churning out top students across the state as well as across India almost every year.
In such a school and setting, would you believe that I somehow forgot to keep time, and ended up late to my year 9 final exams not once, but three times in a row. (Of course, one of my best friends got caught with me too)
After getting severely reprimanded twice, the headmaster got tired of me and gave an ultimatum:
Thou shall strive to be among the top 10 rankers in the year 9 final exams!, If not…
If not, I would be issued a transfer certificate to a lower ranking school in the town. This came as a rude jolt, not because of the quest for academic status but more to do with repercussions at home.
With no doubt on my abilities to jump to top 10, my brain started processing the aftermath scenario!
My Dad was quite well known in the community and in addition, everyone of my siblings were well accomplished from the same school. So, I started imagining my plight at home.
Usually the first three days of tests were language based ‘easy’ exams and the most difficult subjects such as science, maths, history, geography were to follow.
So I had an uphill battle; no, it actually felt more like a war!
To cut a long story short, I secured 13th rank – nope, didn’t come among the top 10!
Usually during the summer holidays, my school sends a postal card to the about the promotion of their kids to the subsequent year group. Given the proximity to head-teacher and the assistant head, the news about my 13th rank arrived early (thanks to the assistant headteacher!).
My parents who had already noticed a sudden change in my preparation and attitude, were so glad to see their son all grown-up! But, boy! they didn’t know the backstory. Hearing my vastly improved their scores, they were over the moon.
Anyway I was pretty convinced, that I am going to be transferred and will have to face the wrath at home and so, the rest of the summer break was a bit of drab.
Everyday I stood waiting for the postcard and when the postcard came, it was anticlimactic. The postcard bore the usual good news, nothing otherwise!!! So the nightmares didn’t happen.
However, my headteacher thoughtfully picked me out on the very first day of year 10 and took me to his room with a wry smile. Privately, he gave me a strong warning, and mockingly hinted at my potential ‘capability’ which was clearly self-evident.
That moment, in his room, my life changed forever!
I thought about his words very deeply, till that moment, it didn’t occur to me that my final scores had jumped significantly – almost a 35% improvement from my past scores. Though it was last minute, I had been through a methodical, diligent and a rigorous preparation to avoid getting kicked out.
This gentleman had just turned my world upside not by fear, but by a sarcastic note about my potential.
From there on, I started seeing the teachers in a different lens and I had a new found respect – my learning had just begun.
My learning style had been transformed and one of the key habits, that I put into play, to secure top marks was to write everything that I was learning – this had a knock on impact on my memory, my diction, pace of writing and many other aspects.
From that day on, I continue to maintain unbelievable amount of notes. Some of them have been archived into CDs. In 2007, I moved to OneNote and have been maintaining ever since. This important habit, has helped me time and again across many aspects of my career.
Some say that I am one of those rare architects who does good documentation!?
The changes, I made during that year to my lifestyle, are still green in my memories. I continue to follow many of those habits and tactics at work regularly.
Especially the note taking habit, came to a big help when I stepped into my first Board role. At a Global Company, I was presenting for the first time at their executive council and this habit came to rescue. — that’s for another day.
Back onto the main topic, teachers continued to nurture and upgrade my life, and my respect/approach towards them changed dramatically. There were many professors who inspired and guided me during my Bachelors and Masters in India. Taking advantage of lockdown, I reached out to a few teachers and professors who were so happy to hear from me.
There are quite a few friends/foes who taught me so many things and I bow to them for those moments of wisdom!
I am sure everyone has got a favourite teacher story to recall or at the very least, an agonising story about a teacher. Either way, a teacher makes a lasting impression.
Anyway wrapping up, this is my point: Teachers spend more time per year with kids than the kid’s parents or siblings. If parent’s understand this point, then possibly, they will find a new line of respect to the teachers across the world.
Without going into salaries or other political issues, parents can simply create an intangible, yet deep impact by taking sometime to celebrate or inculcate the habit of celebrating teachers. This is the best way to have a positive and fulfilling future for their kids.
There are many ways we can help the schools, especially the teachers! As we head back to in-person classes, while dropping your kids or during the parents-teachers meeting, just take a minute to say thank you 🙏…
Dedicated to those great teachers who have nourished my life!
