Third World Student Experiences

Every single person has at least once in their life questioned why we even go to school in the first place. C'mon, just admit it. The thing I don't understand is why most adults try to make us like school. We go to school, learn algebra (which we probably never even have to use again for the rest of our lives), bust our butts to get good grades, get a job and then work until we die. Yea, I'm so excited. You can feel it through your computer screen.




Now I'm sure that there are some of you out there that are probably saying, "But I like school! School is fun!" Yea... that's all great and everything but let me break down my schooling experiences for you. These are the main reasons why Guyanese children don't like school (from nursery to University).

1. There's always some kid with incontinence: Every single day there was at least one kid that didn't make it to the bathroom or just didn't even bother to get up. It was also more than likely that it was the kid that sat next to you. This why i still can't write the number eight properly. Instead of focusing on my curves all I could think about was the smell of milk and faeces next to me.
2. No lockers: Now this was pretty much why we envied (and probably still envy) 'First World" students. Disney movies did this to us. I've always wanted to be able to have a locker of my own. To leave my school books in it. To meet my friends there every morning before class. But then again in Guyana children used to steal your pens and pencils in 'front yuh face' so it's probably best that we don't implement those. 
3. Heavy Book Bags: In my day, we had to fetch every singe text book we would have needed for the day to school. Every single one. Every single day. For eleven years. This is why I look like the hunch back of Notre Dame! The Ministry of Education's new motto should be, "Proudly misshaping our nations children for generations." I think it'll catch on. 
4. Other students: Now this might solely apply to me since I generally never liked any other school children (with the exception of the chosen few that I did talk to). But, you have to deal with the overly smart ones, the 'popular pretty' ones, the 'i'm super philosophical' ones and then my favorite, the 'Arts stream never even made sense' students. To those people out there...





5. Tuition fees: Don't get me wrong...I totally get that Universities need to make money in order to keep functioning efficiently and yada yada yada. However, these people be ridiculous sometimes. Recent occurrences at the local university can attest to that. *Can I get an amen?* Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to pay cash but others end up owing the Government for loans. So you gave me a degree but I can't get a job to pay you back. Gee...thanks...

Pretty much everyone has their own school experiences and I can assure you that even the brightest scholars will tell you that friends were the only reason they walked through those doors everyday (additionally the threat of imminent death by the hands of their parents). Whether good or bad, all those experiences made school worthwhile.

-Third World Black Girl