One week is way too long to be away from this community... I'm so glad to be back so let's get straight to business...
Book Smart or Street Smart
If you've read enough of my post you would know the answers already.
I'm one hundred and eleven percent Book Smart.
My mother likes to joke alot of one of her most popular words are "Look down there". I know what she wants to say but I look every single time and then she goes, "That's your sense on the ground".
Still I love her very much.
Street Smart has never been my calling. Maybe the fact that I grew up as the pampered princess in the Perry Nelson's household accounts to that too.
School and books have always been my one and two. So sorry, food is topping the list but we are trying to be serious here.
My teachers advised my parents to allow me write the entrance into a secondary school early. I think that was the first time I realized just how smart I was.
Secondary came easy, I'm not bragging or anything, I'm only stating a fact, in my primary school education days, I came first everytime.
The years went by and like they say change is constant, so with that I found myself moving from Lagos to Akwa Ibom.
A new school, new people, new environment and it was the scariest.
My father had already picked two of the school tagged "one of the best".
My brother and I wrote the exams and we aced it and that was how I started my journey in Dominion International School.
My first day was not the best. First impressions matter and I was asked a question that I didn't know the answer to. In my head, I already pictured everyone tagging me as the dumb girl.
Now in this school, there was a thing with scholarships.
If a student could manage to take first position three times in a row, he or she was automatically awarded a scholarship and they wouldn't have to pay fees for the whole session.
It was something I was excited about.
Could I get it?. I answered myself and said no. I knew I was smart but the people I met were older, smarter and I was so intimidated.
I moved from Lagos the year I wrote my Junior Waec so I started Senior Secondary School One in the new school.
The new subjects that I had to deal with made it harder but first term came and my result came with the 1st Position.
It was a surprise really, then came second term and 1st position was stamped again.
That was when the teachers started.
They were like, "You all are really going to let someone come out of nowhere and beat you?"
The thing was that I would take first position and like five boys would follow me behind.
When it was announced, I saw the resolution in Victor Moffat's face,my arch nemesis.
He was going to beat me or so he thought. I worked extra hard.
The day my mum went to get the result, I was so petrified.
I had worked so hard. I couldn't even sleep well the night before.
She brought the result home after what felt like hours. I tried to figure out what had happened from the look on her face but it didn't give away anything.
I looked to my Dad, he looked at me sadly.
I lost.
I sadly took my result, opened it.
I didn't even look at the position.
All I saw was my teacher's remark glaring at me in the face.
Victory at last
Source
I won. I actually won. I don't know when it started but next thing I knew, I was screaming and running round the house.
I don't know why it meant so much, of course saving my parents the stress of not paying my fees for a year was a big flex but I just felt like I had won a really big and shiny medal even if I couldn't see it.
My brain finally showed how super it was.
University level isn't the same. I know there were some people that were smarter than me, sometimes it's about grace too. Something I learnt over the years.
I do know that it's not enough to be book smart. There are many areas of life that I need to be street Smart and I'm learning to be better especially with the society I find myself in.
After all, that's why we exist.
To learn everyday.