Math Scare

                                                                          Math Scare

    I was a brilliant student at school, good at sports, first in academics, teacher’s pet, definitely not nerdy and was an epitome for depressed parents and their performance driven kids. My mom used to hold her head up high during the numerous PTA and other parents used to ask mom what my learning strategies were. My mom used to casually reply, “Oh! My daughter isn’t a book worm; she studies the night before the exam.” Most parents felt mom was hiding the truth, but this was truth! I never studied all around the year but did one day batting and still managed to stand first because I paid earnest attention during the classes. In eighth grade, a new Math teacher had joined school as the previous one had some issues with the school management and left. I was feeling really bad as I liked my previous Math teacher and the subject.



          First day, I could hardly understand what the man was teaching. I kept raising my hand to ask doubts but he gave me that, “don’t ask me” look and I eventually had to forgo my doubts. I wasn’t the only one who had a problem with him but the whole class did. This man didn’t have any experience in teaching Math and was a professional photographer. After the whole class received a big fat zero in our math tests we decided to meet the Principal who told us, “I cannot find a good one right now at such short notice, why don’t you’ll go for Math tuition!” We were eighth graders and couldn’t be warded off so easily. We got to the root of the problem and discovered that our Math teacher was the Principal’s cousin and she wouldn’t remove him.



            The next week was spent searching for tuition and most of them charged exorbitant rates an hour. After a long search, mom found a retired veteran teacher who was sitting at home jobless and wanted some quick money. I was his prey. I could hardly understand the concept and literally had to by heart the problems to save my back from his blows. I never told this to mom as she was already depressed about my sinking grades and taunts from other parents, who were triumphant at my disaster. While my other classmates were doing pretty well and not helping me, I hit low. My bench mate dreaded to sit beside me and wrote small notes to the others,” don’t sit beside this failure or we too will end up like her.” I was depressed at being christened a “Failure.”





                During my final exam, I did really bad and was checked by the invigilator thrice to stop looking around for answers. This disastrous performance led to an average performance in other subjects too. I was good in Geography, History, English, Civics and Human Sciences but the thought of not doing well in Math, ruined my performance in these subjects too. My mother hung her head down in shame when she attended my PTA and collected my report card. I was depressed too and promised myself to do well next year. I was promoted to ninth grade with a warning.



          I prayed earnestly that I don’t encounter the same math teacher again and observed a pre mature Lent. Unfortunately, my prayers went in vain and I almost felt like screaming, “Oh No Not Again!” when I seen that Math virus walk straight into the class. All of us cried, “Sir, are you going to teach us this year too?” He found our question too amusing and said, “Yes! I love teaching your class.” Once again my Math woes started and I failed 9th grade miserably. I was kicked out of school and this time my family became the butt of everyone’s jokes. Somehow, mother found another school close by who reluctantly accepted me.





              New faces, new school and new bullies, nobody was ready to mingle with me and the Principal was too harsh on me. Time and again she said, “I’m afraid you won’t pass forever and its sheer waste to see your parents still educate a dimwit like you.” She always looked for opportunities to snub me or cane me even for the minutest mistake. One day, I remember crying my hearts out and showing my sister the red streaks across my palms as a result of excessive caning. My sister reported it to the school Superintendent who spoke to the Principal and as predicted, she took me to task. From then, I decided to silently bear the brunt.





            The change in syllabus was hard to cope up with and I was failing miserably again in all the subjects. My parents had “heart to heart talks”, took me to counselors but in vain. They even arranged for good tutors but it didn’t work out. My grandfather who was a silent witness spoke out, “the girl has lost her confidence and I know a woman from church who can help her out.” “Why the delay, let’s go right away,” my parents cried.





              This woman was quite old and living alone with her two dogs. I was petrified of dogs and called her every day before I could go to ensure the dogs were leashed. Initially, it was tough as I was a slow learner but soon, she started teaching me new concepts, short cut methods and I started finding Math quite easy. I was so obsessed that whenever I was free, I would invent my own math problems and solve them. In the pre-final exam, I secured full marks in Math and above average marks in other subjects too. The Principal rushed to check if I copied or there were any calculation errors in my paper. I proved her wrong and she was unhappy.





              I was at my cousin’s place when the results were declared. My heart skipped a beat when my tech savvy cousin walked in and said,” I’m so sorry, you failed Math.”I couldn’t believe it and was thinking ways and means to end my life. I couldn’t face my parents, the patient tuition teacher or my grandfather who had high hopes on me. After a while, my cousin asked, “How are you feeling?” I replied softly,”bad” controlling my tears.  He then said, “Come, I’ll take you out,” and I followed him sheepishly. “But before that, just see this new wallpaper on my screen and tell me if you like it.” I really felt like saying,” now is not the right time for this” but anyways let me fulfill his desire for the last time as I had my thoughts racing on how to end my life. I happened to see the computer screen; it had my name, roll number and my marks. I widened my eyes and seen, “Math -100, History-99, Civics-95, English-90, Human Sciences-92.” I fainted! After opening my eyes, I hit my cousin for playing the fool with me and threw a huge success party for securing maximum marks in Math.