Published on 12, July, 2020
Just curious about people who slipped through the net, so to speak. How did you cope with school? I developed quite good ways of hiding how much i struggled. It helped that i was in most of the bottom sets, as no one really cared back then. I was in the top set for biology, i excelled in that area. Nothing else part from sport. I hated going in every day, i was like a zombie....i literally cant remember my last year in school. Ive blanked it out completely.
A really interesting thread to read!
I grew up in Thailand, which probably had a different system than most of us on this UK forum. I did well in academics until grade 10 where I found more interests outside school, like music and video game modding. GPA was around 3.3 to 3.6 then dropped to 2.2 during grade 10. I put effort only in classes that I know the purpose of learning it. And also zero effort on classes I hardly cared. I had no motivation in studying just to pass the exam without knowing the importance of the subject. The last 2 years of high school I went to USA and things were completely different.
School life overall was tricky though, I got bullied a lot, did not have much confidence, bullied others a bit. I think the reason I was a target might be the inability to look at someone in the eye, and being flinchy. Fighting off bullies got me in even more trouble as bullies tend to make better excuses while I had a hard time coming up with words. Teachers hardly cared about the situation, I got bullied by some teachers too. I had a hard time talking to my parents about school life and bullies, they only paid attention on academics
Sports & PE: I like endurance sports (which weren't in schools), basketball and pingpong. But team sports (yes, including basketball) are really hard for me, I struggling in communication and staying open for teammates to pass the ball. My experience could have been better if some teachers weren't bullying kids.
Growing up in a system where art in undervalued did hinder a lot of my expression and coping. People tend to view things as science vs. art, one or the other. So art & music classes in school has been a joke to me. I studied music outside of school around grade 9 and 10. And just re-learned drawing 15 years after high school graduation and opened another way to cope.