So as this is a blog series about everything I’ve experienced
during recovery I feel my education is a important factor of that. I know I
probably talk/write about it to much but it's one of the biggest parts of my
life & a issue that’s effected me a lot more than you would think.
My secondary school was absolutely shockingly awful at being to cater to
my needs, When we realized I needed a emergency injection they refused to do it
leaving me having to have time off because they wouldn’t do it.
Which makes it quite funny that they practically threw me out because of
my attendance. In they stop trying to help & I only felt a handful of them
I felt were really trying to help, the rest didn't seem to care.
I think to be a teacher you need to not be taught how to teach but you
need to be taught empathy, I had some amazing teachers who I won't ever forget
who I felt did understand & did what teachers are supposed to do, they
helped me & encouraged me.
I remember the day I left school, I showed up & was told I'd left, I
hadn't my mum had wrote a letter to the head saying I would leave before the
last week of term. She obviously read it wrong anyway I had a million questions
fired at me, then I got taken to a classroom to do a catch-up lesson, there
were only a few in the class as the rest of the year were doing a science test
but luckily I got to spend my last school lesson with a few of my greatest
friends.
After that I went home not exactly knowing what was going to happen, mum
spoke to the school who said they could add me back to the register but the
damage was done they'd done what they had done so there was no point.
I celebrated leaving school by watching Rosie play in the park no fancy
anything & the saddest part is that no one had been told I had actually
left. My friends weren’t told & I’ve been told by my friends that most
teachers didn't actually know.
After that I started being home schooled firstly doing small projects then
eventually moving onto online short courses,
My best teacher has been me, I can teach myself in a way no one else has
ever seemed to try, I know what I need & I think so many teachers don't
really try to people individually they just categorize you, I never liked to
think I was bottom even though I was if I was still in school I still would be
but "if you judge a tortoise on its a ability to climb a tree it will
forever live its life believing its stupid".
I'm a lot of things but I would also like to think I'm not a complete
idiot regardless of what other people think.
Whilst at my brothers Uni graduation a few years ago some man got up &
made a gigantic speech on the education system, how great it was & how much
you needed a good education to achieve things in life. In his speech he used
the words "Education is the key to success"
As you can imagine for the girl who had literally just been thrown out of
school not long before this it was very hard to stomach, I cried alot that day,
I was also in pain but to basically be told I would never achieve anything was
a massive kick in the teeth, especially when I was trying so hard. When
doing/planning these things people don't think about who might be listening or
how it could effect someone I still haven’t forgotten that, I don't think I
ever will.
I’ve thought about his choice of words alot,Ive also deeply thought about
how people in the education system actually treated me throughout my life,
teachers aren’t trained to understand students there simply just trained to
teach them so most of the time there’s a gigantic gap between teacher
&pupil
I'm not saying I never had a decent teacher, I know I never mention the
good ones but I had some amazing teachers teaching assistants who did
want me to succeed & do well, these are the ones I won't ever forget
& I hope that other people see how great they are at their jobs just as
much as I did.
You need some sort of an education but if you can't learn in the same way
as others that’s okay, if your ill & can't be at school as much as everyone
that’s also okay, the lack of understanding from others isn't.
Most of the times I went into school in my last few years I probably
shouldn't have been there & yet when I was there I was still expected to do
tests on work I wasn't there to do in the first place.
When I was to ill for school, school sent work for Hospital education to
do with me, I lost count of the amount of times I cried knowing they were
coming as I knew just wouldn't be able to concentrate but again it was all
about the government telling me I had to learn, I wanted to learn more than
anything but I couldn't all I wanted on my worst days was to be left alone with
no one trying to force me to do anything that I knew I couldn't even though I
so desperately wanted to.
The whole education system is messed up, all a school wants is a perfect
attendance to make them look good on paper, or for you to get top marks in
everything so they get the best results overall.
I never really thought about it until I started looking back but my time
in school came with a lot of things teachers wouldn't let me do at the time I
thought it was unfair but never really thought to much into it I was just sad
about it but carried on regardless.
One time that sticks out for me was in year 6 at our end of school play, I
was super excited about this & probably way to optimistic but in my mind
there was no reason I couldn't do it or anything I wanted to do, I was a tad
shy but I thought by doing this it would bring me out of my shell, the worst
part wasn't getting a bad part the worst part was that I'd recently found a love
for acting & the art of T.V & film the worst bit was basically being
told that I couldn't do anything like that I had no clue why people thought I wasn’t
capable.
My parents, family & close friends have never put anything past me do
I never thought about being judged, left out or discriminated as a child I now
know I was & quite alot by the people who should have been boosting me up.
My year 6 year was the healthiest I ever remember feeling & sometimes
I wish I could go back to then & let these people know how ill I was gonna
get & how you have to give people chances when you can people younger than
me had better roles than me another stab in the back.
Also why make me fill out a form on what I want if you don't care about it
anyway I also got yelled at for sitting by the school hall door, I’m a chronic
asthmatic it was to cold outside and I had to waste over a hour a night doing nothing,
I know they could have axed me all together but to do that to someone just
because of illness is pretty low. Its extremely low to discriminated against
anyone but to a kid who just wants to be apart of something is even worse.
Same school same casting my little sister got 1 of the main roles & I
feel like that was because she not had good grades another thing I lacked but
she also had a good attendance from the start of school I didn't. This will
always be one of the lowest points of my life & one where I personally feel
I was judged the worst & discriminated against the most in my entire life a
few months I won't ever forget.
There were so many times I felt excluded from my peers because I apparently
wasn’t as smart as they were even if I'm not I know I’ve been able to make
friends because of it & I’ve learnt a lot from people who have struggled to
learn more than,Ive been able to learn how to help them as well myself which is
something I'm so grateful I’ve had the chance to do.
Grades don't define who you are they may define who some people think you
are but there’s a lot more to life than having a good eduction,I know a lot of
people who struggle academically but there the nicest people I’ve ever known.
I know sometimes people use there jobs or schooling to try & make out
they are better than you but I think as long as you know what’s important to
you & never lose sight of what you want to change about the world, what you
want out of your life & are able to be a decent person. In my mind thats
all that matters