A Big Happy Family

A Big Happy Family

I spend most of my time at school. School hour starts at 07.00 and ends at 15.30, for 5 days a week. My school is a public school that has just begun its pilot project on applying international and national curriculum at once, and luckily I got to be in the first year and the first class of its project. Learning two curriculums at once is not easy; to be honest it is frustrating. My classmates are not going to change from the first year until the last year of high school, which means that I got to be in the same room with the same students and teachers for 3 whole years. That has made us all a big family! This is my second year, two years is a long enough time to observe and understood the problems and differences within my class especially between my classmates, and to be close to them and the teachers as well.

I must say that my classmates have lacked of motivation. At first, I thought it is because they are still adapting to the curriculums that we are learning, but a year have passed and they have not changed. They ignore teachers' explanation in class and even sleep, they do not care what homework and assignments are to be done, sometimes they even forget tomorrow's test! They moan and groan to everything that we learn in class. The class is a total disaster; there is rubbish under the desks, at the top of the bookshelves, and on the floor. When school hour is over, they left their belongings scattered on their desks and not bothering to tidy them or take them home. All they care about is shopping, party and simply having fun in life, which are actually normal for teenagers our age to think that way, but here, in our ‘School Project' we are actually forced to be a lot more mature than the teenagers our age.

After the first month of my first year, I read a book that had changed me. Since then, I have my own principles for life that makes me strong and not ‘infected' by my environment. There are also my parents and a teacher that keeps motivating and supporting me in their unique and unpredictable ways.

Leo Tolstoy says: "People are busy trying to change the world but no one is thinking about changing themselves". That quote really inspired me and motivated me to keep on renewing myself towards a better person. I then got involved in many activities inside and outside school to enrich myself with different experiences. Because I believe that experience is the best teacher that one could have. It is true and I have proved it myself. I started influencing my classmates with good attitude that I learned everywhere.

One day, our teacher could not come to class, and everyone was very noisy. I looked around the class and saw how messy and dirty our class was. Without a second thought, I quickly grabbed a plastic bag and went around picking rubbish. I did not ask for help, I only asked my friends if there is any rubbish under their desks. Surprisingly, everyone started working! Tidying their desks, pulling rubbish out from under their desks and lockers, I even had to get a bigger plastic bag! I was very happy. I had a strong feeling that I could change my classmates' behavior simply by being brave to take a step and doing what I know is right. Since then, I always try to plant good seeds in my classmates' heart. When it is time to go to the mosque to pray, I tried to be on time and remind everyone to pray. When I noticed that my friend does not understand a certain topic in our lesson, I tried offering help for her. That way, both of us learn together in a fun way. I tried to increase my class' motivation in reading by bringing an interesting book that I read. Every time I read something, I always bring it to class and fortunately, my friends got really interested in the books that I read and ask if they could borrow it. I was happy to lend it and even happier when a lot of my classmates bring different types of books every week! We even sometimes share the stories in front of the class.

I foster sustainable development in my class by being consistent to what I do and keep on renewing myself because no one is perfect. That way, I believe that my classmates will get influenced and slowly but surely the good seeds will grow and become a beautiful flower in each and everyone of them.