It should feel like déjà vu but it wasn’t. So even though the narrative, basis for coming and my sitting position were somewhat the same as the last time something like this happened, there were some distinct differences. Like the fact that Faith didn’t enter the room crying like she did the other time, and the second was, this time, she came alone.
And so I sat that day, just like before, four months and four days ago, working on my phone and trying to get a post together. Then she came in, sat on my couch and didn’t say a word. I knew she would wait there till whenever I said something to her and wouldn’t live till I gave her attention. So, I dropped my phone and asked. “What’s the matter?”
Faith is usually pretty straightforward. Not one to be unnecessarily dramatic but she breathed a huge sigh and started. “Sister Tess, do you know how it feels when you’re actively working to be the best but all the bias around you is pulling you down?”
I was genuinely confused. I knew it had to be about school but I wasn’t sure. However, her tone made me know that it was a rhetorical question and she wasn’t finished. So, I didn’t answer and waited to hear what she’d say next. The next thing was, “You know that girl, Belinda, who was the star student before I transferred?” When I replied in the affirmative, she said, “Well I don’t know what to do. All the teachers like her. They like her so much and undeservingly award her marks whenever and wherever...”
The issue summarised that she felt wronged. She talked about how she’d take time to explain each point in her tests and at the end of the day, she’d get a 5/10 and when she compares scripts with Belinda, she’ll see that the girl barely explained anything and would get 9/10. But it wouldn’t stop there, she said it’s a thing to take the scripts to the teacher for cross-checking if you felt you were unjustly marked. So when she carries hers and Belinda’s scripts, the teacher would “realize his mistakes” and reduce Belinda’s marks.
But then during the class, a teacher who never awards extra marks or credit to students would ask the girl a question and when she answers, would award the marks he took from her back. Essentially, she still has those marks and nothing was lost. And according to Faith, across most of her teachers, things like this would happen repeatedly.
I listened for the next few minutes as she poured out her heart about how she felt. As customary to the ladies of my family, she soon started crying as she spoke and I won’t lie, I felt sad but more than that, a bit pissed on her behalf. I know you may think it’s not okay to just take her word for it. But I know how level-headed and committed she is, especially about her academics. So I understood and didn’t think she was embellishing the truth at all.
Before I tell you what I said, I’d like to give you feedback on what’s been happening since I made that post four months ago. A lot of her classmates began to grow fond of her and something that hardly ever happens in schools happened as a transfer student was made class monitor/representative. She began to enjoy herself well in school until all of these happened.
The term has drawn to a close and they got their results today(Faith and Praise) so before I tell you their scores, I’ll tell you what I told Faith, which is that it was a different thing if the students were against you, but if you were suspecting your teachers of being bias or favouring another student over you, there was nothing you could do. I told her to just do her best and hope in the fact that if she’s supposed to come out at the top of her class, no amount of bias would change that. She wiped her tears, not exactly comforted but determined to do better.
It was a different school, they were introduced to things they had no idea of in their previous school so the chances of them coming out on top were rather slim. I waited with bated breath when they went to get their results. And when they got back, they both screamed, we took 2nd position. Praise is in the Commercial class of SS2 and Faith, is in the Science class of SS1. Faith wasn’t too happy but with how excited the rest of the family was, she began to smile soon enough.
Praise was extremely pleased since she didn’t expect it, for one, and also cause she was second overall best in the Commercial and Art classes. We were extremely proud of them so even though Faith kept muttering about how she would have come out top if the teachers had been a bit fair, we cheered her to be grateful and just put in more effort for the next term.
Well, that’s it for my transfer girls’ stories. Till next time.
Jhymi🖤
Image is mine.