Regretting Section One [RANTING/BITCHING]
July 4th, 2008 | Published in School | 16 Comments
Apparently, Section One isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
When Section One and I parted ways in Sophomore high school year, I missed it. I missed the fact that I was part of the top brass of the Special Science Curriculum, of the entire school in fact. Being in Section Three was an uneasy feeling. I felt like I didn’t belong, in an arrogant sense. I felt like the gods had smoten me for no reason at all, that I’d done something wrong and they punished me by sending me to the third section. For ten months, in Section Three, I toiled long and hard into the night in the hopes that I would soon return to the glory that is Section One.
Looking back, I now realize that I’d gotten it all wrong.
Because Section One doesn’t necessarily mean top brass. By sending me to the third section, the gods weren’t smiting me—they were blessing me plentifully. And, although my mantra is that life is too short for regrets, I now wish I hadn’t toiled so hard to get back to Section One.
Because it just isn’t worth spending that much time on. It just isn’t.
Section One—hereon in referred to as III-Avogadro, or simply section Avogadro—is a mess. A total, depressing, happiness-depleting mess. When I come into the room every morning, everyone is wearing either a grumpy, pissed, irritated, or panicked face. “I forgot about the Chemistry test! Dang, I forgot about the Social Studies assignment!” The word disgruntled could be appropriate to describe what state section Avogadro is always in. Even a simple and quick question would be met by the “talk to the hand” gesture, because everyone’s so busy with their books and shit. This is where I don’t belong. This is where I seek asylum from.
I could swear that people would be ready to kill just to get high grades here. I’m just counting down the days to when all hell breaks loose, when grades will have become such a priceless treasure that we’ll start throwing armchairs and maiming each other with textbooks.
Which would be sad, because grades aren’t priceless treasures. To quote a good friend of mine, grades are merely numbers. They don’t total one’s personality. While I do agree that education is a priceless treasure, report cards aren’t accurate gauges to measure knowledge. The effects of education aren’t felt during school. They can be observed during life itself, and the Great Periodic Test is when we stand at the edge of our precipice and ask ourselves, “What have I done with my life?”
Grades are numbers. A combination of ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, and zeros. And such useless things aren’t worth maiming people over.
Some people in Section Avogadro can also get arrogant. At the risk of being called a hypocrite, I daresay I hate arrogant people. Shit. Like you know everything. Always managing to sneak intelligent phrases no one gives a shit about into your sentences. Whenever quiz-checking time arrives and the owner of the paper you’re checking gets a wrong answer, you quickly quip that he’s stupid/dumb. Sometimes I wonder whether you bring all this failure upon yourself.
And then there’s the invariably crushing pressure to perform well in Avogadro. I don’t do well under pressure. Nor do I think we should be pressured at all, but hell, we are.
I actually have the option to transfer sections, to move to a lower, less-pressuring classroom, perhaps with less [insert adjective here] classmates. I’ve actually really thought about it a lot.
Why haven’t I?
Fucking regret, that’s why.
Why would I toil for ten months to get to Section One and then transfer to Section Two? Thanks, but no thanks. (Mia, I respect your decision.)
Avogadrites, sorry, but this is just how I feel. Ahh, it felt good to relieve myself of that burden.
nice
hehe dont leave us DB..please!?! hehe
nice
hehe dont leave us DB..please!?! hehe
Oh… that's a nice name. Avogadrites. We called ourselves Avo-people. I was in Avo from 1st to 4th year, but I was almost removed from Avo in my 3rd year because of being in the bottom of the class. Of course, we're talking about different schools here but Avo was also like the cream of the crop in my school. Most of the times, I felt that we were being bullied because we people looked up at us and teachers would always make it look like it's our fault. But anyways, being in a good school alone is something you should be proud of no matter what section you're in, and receiving the best education that you can get from being in that school.
Oh… that’s a nice name. Avogadrites. We called ourselves Avo-people. I was in Avo from 1st to 4th year, but I was almost removed from Avo in my 3rd year because of being in the bottom of the class. Of course, we’re talking about different schools here but Avo was also like the cream of the crop in my school. Most of the times, I felt that we were being bullied because we people looked up at us and teachers would always make it look like it’s our fault. But anyways, being in a good school alone is something you should be proud of no matter what section you’re in, and receiving the best education that you can get from being in that school.
[...] of the school year has come to a close, and our grades (for which I expressed my indifference in an earlier post) are starting to pour in. The long wait to find out how high (or low) our marks are is [...]
[...] of the school year has come to a close, and our grades (for which I expressed my indifference in an earlier post) are starting to pour in. The long wait to find out how high (or low) our marks are is [...]
I've heard that kind of sentiments before from people who once belonged to section one but transferred to a lower section. Do I think they made the right decision? Definitely not. There's a certain glamour when you belong to the top brass Dean, I know for sure that it isnt as fun or as laid-back as the lower sections but that is the price to pay for belonging to the cream of the crop. Being in section one means having the most opportunity among all of your batchmates. Your teachers may also be teaching the lower sections and therefore one could say that, in that alone, the education the students who belong to section one get is just at par with the lower sections, but I know for sure that isnt the case. When you are surrounded by classmates(just as what you've described) who always want to excel, that should spell the difference between the first section and the second section. when you are in the first section, you are immersed in an environment that thrives in excellence, and because of that, it pushes you to work, to show the best of who you are. Instead of loathing the competitiveness, you can join the “fun”. Believe me, when you are a voracious learner in Highschool, College would seem like chickendung. haha. And you know what, the most fun part of being in the top section is BEING NUMBER 1. I prefer that number than 2 and 3, dont you?:p
I've heard that kind of sentiments before from people who once belonged to section one but transferred to a lower section. Do I think they made the right decision? Definitely not. There's a certain glamour when you belong to the top brass Dean, I know for sure that it isnt as fun or as laid-back as the lower sections but that is the price to pay for belonging to the cream of the crop. Being in section one means having the most opportunity among all of your batchmates. Your teachers may also be teaching the lower sections and therefore one could say that, in that alone, the education the students who belong to section one get is just at par with the lower sections, but I know for sure that isnt the case. When you are surrounded by classmates(just as what you've described) who always want to excel, that should spell the difference between the first section and the second section. when you are in the first section, you are immersed in an environment that thrives in excellence, and because of that, it pushes you to work, to show the best of who you are. Instead of loathing the competitiveness, you can join the “fun”. Believe me, when you are a voracious learner in Highschool, College would seem like chickendung. haha. And you know what, the most fun part of being in the top section is BEING NUMBER 1. I prefer that number than 2 and 3, dont you?:p
I'm not sure I agree with you on that last statement, te dems.
I'm not sure I agree with you on that last statement, te dems.
that is very true dean…. lahi ra gyud kung naa ka sa “SECTION ONE”…. i thought that why our clasSmates will do anyhting just to be in section one……..they will do AnYTHING…
that is very true dean…. lahi ra gyud kung naa ka sa “SECTION ONE”…. i thought that why our clasSmates will do anyhting just to be in section one……..they will do AnYTHING…
[...] wasn’t useless: I climbed back to Section One from my Section Three status. (I’ve made my feelings about that transfer very [...]
And I respect yours, Dean. Haha.
Love you, bai.
-mia
Love you too, bai.
yo dean. hehe. just passing by.
first year was too much on me, and i was GLAD to have been transferred to III- MendeL.
(aLong with some other reasons i dare not say. you can probabLy guess. ;p)
wahahaha. such a late repLy. V(^o^)