Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm just watching this Yo Samdy Sam video and already noticing (in spite of her posh, private school education - privilege alert!) that many of the teachers' observations are almost exaclty the same as on my own. Almost eerily, in fact, although I went to a very rough comprehensive in the North East of England. My reports were, on the face of it, rather good, but there are some little asides which indicate constant high levels of anxiety combined with my supposed "giftedness" (I was actually terrified into appearing "gifted", I now think). When I look back, I'm getting more of a feeling of, "My goodness - what did they do to me?" Very interesting, I think, And I'll probably reflect some more on this as I watch the rest. My "giftedness" didn't exactly carry over into most of the workplaces I got myself trapped in and I then experienced decades of anxiety and fairly poor mental health. So... and if you care to share, how was it for you? www.youtube.com/watch
I was mostly shy, quiet and well behaved, which helped me be 'invisible'. I was good at art subjects and maths but not so good at English and language. Did P.E to the "best of her ability" which was a considerate way of putting it .
My mental health hit rock bottom in high school. It became harder to attend regularly or meet the demands. It was too noisy, chaotic, changeable and the increased social and academic demands caused so much additional confusion, isolation and meltdowns at home.
Primary school was a better experience in general, much less change day to day and I seemed to be able to cope better.
sn said:It was too noisy, chaotic, changeable and the increased social and academic demands caused so much additional confusion, isolation and meltdowns at home.
Yes, our secondary schools were like that too. Primary schools were definitely better with no switching between classes and more stability with just one teacher. Not perfect at all, but easier to cope with.