School and Me

Le Yang

Professor Anderson

English 110

February 24, 2005

School and Me

School, to me and among many peers of my age, is not a distant term. I have spent one-third of my life time sitting in classrooms, every week since I was seven years old. After spending this much time in school, many things and experiences that happened there have left their mark in my memory. Some are small incidences while some have had great impact on me. However, regardless the degree of significance, things that happened all contributed to shape the person that I am now.

*

I was accused of cheating for the first time when I was seven years old. It was during the term final where the performance of the test indicates all the progress the student had made throughout the semester, so its importance was never over emphasized. Though I haven’t been in school long enough to emerge myself into the brutal competitive environment, I certain did study the materials well to make my parents happy.

During the exam I was rather confident. The material wasn’t that challenging so I quickly finished writing my answer. With nothing to do I started to look around: birds singing outside the window, people walk by the door, and the answers on the paper of my fellow classmate behind me. Though my action looked suspicious, I had no plan to cheat because even the concept of cheating was new to me. I was confident in my answer and has already finished the exam. I turned around simply to check up on my classmate. Certainly the teachers didn’t agree with me. They had to take me outside of the room and hold onto my test for the time being. My parents were informed to come to school for discussion. It was a really a big deal - how dare someone cheat on the final exam?

I don’t remember the details of what happened afterward, but somehow school concluded that my action was not intentional thus should not be penalized, with the advise of not repeating the same mistake. I supposed it’s good for me, otherwise I don’t know how miserable I would be for the rest of my elementary school career. More importantly, I learned that even though my intention was different, what people saw from my action indicated otherwise. The assumption people made could have resulted a very different interpretation from my intention. After the incident I became more careful in what I do and say - I didn’t want to deliver wrong messages. I thought it would be good for me and everyone around me.

*

I didn’t go to my zoned middle school, instead I applied to the city’s specialized school. The school was located on the complete opposite side of the city from my elementary school. Everything started anew, I was all by myself. While I was busy getting used to the school and making new friends, I also discovered a new passion, soccer. Through soccer I was able to meet some of my most loyal friends. We would often get together and play soccer against other classes.

The school required a test for admission, so the competition was getting fierce. The teachers focused a lot on our academics and tried to squeeze as much time as they can from us to study. As the result, we were not allowed to play soccer during our free time because it hinders us from studying. Maybe it is human tendency to break laws, but the gang of us didn’t want to conform to that rule so sneaking a soccer ball to school and keep it away from the teachers became an everyday challenge. It was amazing the kind of ideas we came up with for this task. Soccer added spices into my otherwise boring school life, and it served as a channel between me and my fellow classmates. Through soccer we found a common ground, that we were able to know each other more and support each other no matter what happens. It gave us a sense of unity, and it was very important to me. Even now I cherish the pact I had with them back then - the support that helped me to stay on the right track during my rebel teenage years.

My homeroom teacher at the time had the most impact on me than any other mentors I had. People say teachers can really shape the mind of a child during his growth. I cannot agree less. It was exactly during the middle school years that I started to have my own ideas and views on things. There is no doubt that my teacher had a significant impact on my worldly view. Not only she was an award winning educator, more importantly, she was also an experienced human being. During my two years of middle school, I learned a lot from her - the way to see the world around me now, the way to look into the future, and the way to see within myself from the past. She passed down her wisdom through her way of teaching and the example she set in front of the class. Up until today, I am still very grateful to have her as my mentor.

*

My mother moved to the United States when I started middle school, then two years later my father and I followed her footsteps. There were so many things here in the United States that were new to me: the people, the language, the roads, the building... and of course the school as well. It was a big challenge for me to get used to the education system here and to make new friends, yet I welcomed all these with great anticipation. I had studied some English when I was in China, however, it wasn’t until school that I realized what I had learned was only good enough to read the alphabets off the table. The first few weeks was very difficult, and I remembered it well. Not only I didn’t know anyone, my shyness had kept me away