Image by David Mark from Pixabay
You are probably wondering why I used the image above for the purpose of this post. The reason is, it is the only image that best depicts my classroom during my days in a public school. It's almost so perfect and accurate, so, yeah! I opted for it
An introduction to my story
During my pre-college academic years, I attended both private and public schools. It was a mixture of both worlds through the young eyes of toddler and a pre-teenager. Like philosophy and a little bit of psychology would have it "They say variety is the spice of life". These years were filled with experience, experience gained from two different sides of the same coin.Talk about the good, the awesome, the bad and the ugly. It was like an all you can eat Buffett, but this Buffett had one problem, you try everything with no complaint.
My Experience in the private had its good and ugly experience, same goes for my experience in the public school. But which was a far better experience? Honestly, the private was a far better experience.
Why do I say this?
My story
I can't exactly remember the age I started school, memories of my kindergarten and nursery years are all fuzzy. But I do remember that I spent all my primary school years in a private school. These years were characterized by teachers paying close attention to us, these were delicate years. They either make or break a child. Now, with the level of academic attention given by our teachers, I really didn't understand or see the whole picture then, but surely that close attention can hardly be given in a public school setting right, especially in a country like mine. These years are crucial in the life of a child and to an extent, they dictate the next sets of academic years. Trust me you really don't want those delicate years to be in a public school in my country, financial issues off the table.
Fast forward to 2010, I commenced my first year as a secondary school student that was JSS 1 in my country, and this time around, life felt good, it was good until my Dad sent me to a public school under his very own watchful eyes. It wasnt actually a bad thing, now that I think of it as an adult, but it sure had its perks. As a matter of fact, he was a mathematics teacher in that school. I felt enslaved, my sweet few hours of freedom from my father which I cherished, had been stolen. Now not only was I in a public school which I detested with every fiber of my being, but I was also being watched by my Dad. Ok maybe that doesn't sound so bad, I had to make sure I wasn't the center of negative comments or something like that. All my moves were critically thought of, I had to be a good son both home and away. Frankly, it was exhausting, to top it off, I had to be a good student both home and away, remember I said my dad was a mathematics teacher in that very school, if you are thinking it already, yes! he taught my class, imagine that just for a second... Sounds exhausting right?
Now the exhaustion from being both a good student and a good son wasn't the only exhaustion I had to deal with, I quickly discovered that there was one more in store. We were at that time of the year, the rainy season came hard, it poured heavily. Along with it came the hasty growth of stubborn grasses and weeds around our school, like fire in the harmattan they spread around the school premises, and as much as everything looked bright green, it was terrible. I thought to my myself "Something should be done as soon as possible about these weeds and overgrown grasses or a lot of things could go wrong". Of course, things quickly went wrong from my perspective, an announcement was made, that when it hit me, these grasses and weeds are going to be cleared by us the students. I almost protested until then again I was reminded painfully that I was in a public school. The other students took it like it was nothing, and frankly, it wasn't, just another regular day in the life of a young homo-sapiens who has been enrolled as a public school student from day one.
I felt terrible, the day for sanitation hashtag grass-cutting/weed clearing finally came. For me, it was judgment day which has taken the horrific form of a cutlass and an overgrown grass. Yes, I could hold a cutlass, who can't? But swinging was the problem, then I learned how to swing, and swing I did, then I realized that it wasn't enough, I had to make sure the sharpest part of the cutlass was hitting the grass very close or not far above the soil. There were rules and mechanics behind a successful grass cutting, I never knew. The sun came out, then I felt like hell. Long story short I learned to swing a cutlass, cut an overgrown grass, and clear out weeds properly.
Another thing about public school in my country, (trying not to generalize here) is, there is this tendency for truancy and gross irresponsibility among students. It's like an infection that has eaten deep to the roots, it spread even to the responsible ones. These most times go unchecked. Only those disciplined and responsible to the very end or those that eventually come back to their senses and make a full U-turn from irresponsibility are eventual academic success.
Fortunately, I spent a single year in public school and the rest of my other secondary school years was in a private school, then university life was in a federal institution more like a public University, but that's a story for some other day.
@sam9999