I thought it was a thing of glory to be different until I realized that in most cases, different meant lonely.
Source
I sat on my bed staring at my own reflection in the mirror, not knowing if I made a mistake by trying to be the only one offering French as a science student in secondary school.
Nobody thought it was a good idea but since I already had a foundation in French having attended a French summer school when I was much younger, I decided I could cope with it. In my first year in secondary school, l was the only one offering 17 courses.
The Guidance and Counselling officer, Madam Christie had summoned me to her office just before the first term ran out.
“Treasure?” I nodded, tucking my shirt in properly so that I would not be asked to go on my knees for dressing improperly to a teacher's staff room.
“Have a seat” I took the seat opposite her and stared around the awards in her office as she flipped through a file on her table. “Your student file says that you want to offer French as one of your courses this term”.
“Yes ma'am”
“But that will make your subjects 17 and 16 is the limit for first-year students”.
I already knew that of course. All my friends and senior colleagues had already warned me about my course of action but I was too in love with the language to let it slide.
“I can handle it ma”
She peered at me from under her glasses and allowed a small smile on her face.
“I've seen a lot of students like you in the past, I would advise you not to tread that path but if you still want to, then you would need to request a subject attachment form to your file”
Now as I sat in front of that mirror with all my assignments displayed before me, I was wondering if I had made a mistake. I couldn't say such a thing to my mother so I just locked myself up in the room trying hard to finish up before resumption which was just the following day.
When my mother asked if I wasn't going to resume school that week, I told her that I wasn't feeling too well and would love to stay back at home for one more week. Even within the 7 days I took after the resumption, I still couldn't finish up the 15 assignments I had left and when I resumed, I learned that eight teachers had already gotten their assignments.
It got me wondering if the French I had chosen against everyone's sound advice was even worth it.
At the end of that term, I decided that I was going to drop the subject so I went back to the Guidance and Counselling officer. She took my result file out and glanced through my performance throughout the term. Her head moved sideways from time to time and with her lips turned downward, I knew my result was not as good as it used to be.
“I don't know why you decided to take the road less traveled but at this point, it's too late. You cannot suddenly decide to drop a subject in the middle of the year, you have to follow through with it till you're done with your first year”
I wiped the tears off my eyes as my head was bent low. I knew what it meant not to have at least an average result as a science student, you would be taken out at the end of the year and given a test that would determine if you could still be a science student or if you should be moved over to the art class.
If such a thing happened to me, many people would be disappointed. My father for one looked forward to having a doctor in the family and my mom, just wanted me to come out with an excellent result to make up for all the sacrifices she was making for me.
“This was what I was trying to warn you about last term but don't be discouraged. You're not the first SS1 student to do 17 subjects. If you put in lots of effort, you'll have an average result at the end of the year”
It was quite difficult but I was able to attain a 60.9 percent aggregate at the end of the year. That was 10 percent more than average but when I took it home, a frown climbed my father's lips and my mother smiled thinly.
I didn't even have an A in French I wanted to study badly and eventually, I ended up being an art student at the university because I never even liked the science course my father pushed me to study in the first place.