My School Days

Posted by: TanyaW on: March 9, 2012

• In: Education | School
• 1 Comment

By Micheal Ward

My name is Michael Ward, I am 15 years old and I am an early school leaver. I would like to see if I could push a little bit further to get my leaving cert. It was not my decision to leave school at 15. I feel bad that I am not in the educational system anymore, but I do not feel bad that I am not in school, because my school days were not good.  I would like to do my leaving cert outside of school if that was possible. Unfortunately right now  it is not.

My classroom  experience was  negative. I found school very boring, because I didn’t understand what was going on. I missed a lot of school and when I asked the teachers to explain things to me, they just ignored me.  I was always behind and I could never catch up, when I wanted to do homework  for other subjects I got in trouble. I just  had to sit there.

I don’t know if anyone else had the same problem of being a target for teachers in school.  I found school to be a disturbing place.  Not everybody found school disturbing some people enjoy it. I personally was made to feel different, like an animal in the zoo. I missed a lot of school but nobody helped me to catch up. I know that  other people got the help they needed when they missed school. Why couldn’t they help me? Why was I the one to be left out?. To be very honest school disgusted me.  During my research for this topic I found the following quote to be very true ‘ the quality of relations between teachers and students, emerges as a key factor in young people staying in education. Negative interaction with teachers is commonly reported by early school leavers, with many feeling they did not receive the help they needed or were not listened to’.  This was the reason I left school.

One day I had a stud in my ear and a fellow student  had an even bigger stud in his ear. I was told to take it out immediately and I did. The other student  was told  to take it out as well but he did not. I wore the stud again because I saw that the other student  was wearing it so I thought it must be ok. I was sent home and nothing was said to him. Between this type of discrimination and many others.  I started to act out. I wanted  to leave school. I hated it.

I figured out a way to leave the school for good. I got into a physical fight. I know I gave them a reason to put me out of school. I couldn’t stay there any longer. School was more difficult for me. I was tired of being treated badly every day, so I started  acting badly. Nobody was ever on my side.  I needed the teachers help with everything because I found it hard to read and write. When I asked the teachers for help they responded really sarcastically and made me feel stupid. Other students didn’t need the teacher as much, but I did.  Teachers didn’t always want to help me, I found it very hard.

One teacher in particular hurt my feelings the most. He knew I couldn’t read and usually he never asked me. One day it was different, I was being cheeky so he decided to humiliate me by asking me to read. He made a joke over the fact that I couldn’t read. I got really smart with him and I left the class. I explained to the principal what happened, and then I left the school and went home. All I ever wanted was to be taught something and not to have somebody force me. It would be great if I could just ask a question without being made to feel stupid. I was so sick of being told that I ‘should know’ it, or ‘we’ve done that before’.

Not everything about school was bad. I did have some nice experiences. In 3rd year I had a resource English teacher. There was only 2 students in the class and I got the time I needed. She always helped me before I ever had to ask her. She made things easy to understand. These classes were really helping me but when I went into 4th year they were no longer available.

I like art and I’m good at it. I had an art teacher that saw my talent and encouraged me. It was the first time a teacher was positive towards me. I  looked forward to her classes and I never missed one. I knew what I had to do in that class, I was always occupied with something. I never acted out  because I had something to do,  I knew I was good at it and so did the teacher.  It was not just in the classroom that the teacher was very nice, she also stuck up for me when I was accused of something I didn’t do. Finally, someone was on my side.

School made new friends for me.  I mixed with people I would never have usually mixed with.  I played soccer in school that I never use to do. I only played for the laugh and I really enjoyed it. Being in school also brought me closer to my cousin, we never use to hang out before and now we’re good friends.

My Uncle left school at 12, he’s now 29 and he’s very depend on other people when it comes to reading and writing. When he gets a letter in the post his wife has to read it to him, When he wants to tax his car, pay for insurance he always needs his wife there. There’s a big difference between those times and these times. Now there is  still the chance to get an education when you leave school like me for example.

There are a lot more opportunities now to get an education outside of school. There are schemes run by youth reach and the VEC for adult education.  I hope to get my leaving cert in the near future, I would like to get more education, I know that opportunity is still out there. I want to get a good job.

In my opinion,  people that leave school should not fall behind in education because chances are out there to help you outside of school. Do not give up. I personally am going to keep trying and get the education I deserve.  If you wenthrough what I want through would you really want to stay in school. I know I am not alone on this as every year 9,000 young people leave school. This has to stop.