pexelsAnytime I remember how I walked out of the class into the next class I just wish I could go back in time and stop myself. Just one little decision in my high school days altered the course of my life forever and up till this moment, I still regret it and wish I could change it.
It was in highschool , school had just resumed for a new session (year) and I was promoted to a new class, senior-secondary-school 2 (grade 11). We were now required to chose the path we wanted to follow based on what we wanted to become in future (based on our career goals).
The ss2 class was divided into two broad divisions ; The Science class and the Arts/social-science class and we had to choose the class we wanted to join.
I was still young and confused, I really didn't know what I wanted for myself, I didn't know what I wanted to become in future.
I had met a few persons that gave me some advice but it wasn't really helpful, I was told to check my previous grades in different subjects in my past years, and which ever one I did better in, whether science or arts, I should join that class.
I checked and found out that I did good in both areas and so I was still confused.
I was very good in mathematics and for that reason people said I would do well as an engineer, they wanted me join the science class but I liked law a bit but didn't think liking a profession was enough reason to want to study it.
I also didn't think I liked it enough to want to become a lawyer. I just thought I only liked the way lawyers dressed in black and white and the prestige and respect the profession commanded.
I was smart and was one of the most respected and influential students in the school, I was very much respected by my classmates because I was very good especially in mathematics.
We were given one week to make our final decision so our names could be taken and registered to the class we had chosen before learning would start properly.
I somehow found myself in the arts/social science class, I really didn't know what exactly made me go there, I think it was partly because of the little likeness I had for law and partly because I just wanted to know how it would feel in that class.
I stayed there till the final day when we were supposed to register our names permanently to the class we had chosen.
Although I was doing great in that class and also found it interesting, I still wasn't sure I wanted to be there.
That day, when the school principal and administrators came to take down our names so they could register us as full members of either the science class or the arts/social science class, they gave the class a register to write down our names and some other details, and we were also asked to sign to affirm that we wanted to be in the class we had chosen.
Just before the register came to my desk, I overheard a science teacher addressing the science class, I heard her make this statement " science class is for the intelligent and smart students and not for dullards, if you know you cannot cope here, better go to the arts/social science class". I immediately looked around and saw that most of my friends and also, most of the brilliant and respected students like myself were in the science class.
I didn't want people to think that I wasn't smart enough, I liked the respect I was getting and felt I would lose it if I stayed in the arts class, so immediately, I took my bag and left for the science class. I remember a teacher persuaded me to stay back because I was already doing so well in the class, but I ignored her. I entered the science class and put down my name and signed in their register. That was how my life changed forever, that single decision altered the course of my life. Things became a little tougher for me, it wasn't as seamless as the other class, but I felt that was the reason why they said it was for the brilliant ones.
I later found out when I got into college to study Engineering that I really liked LAW and was more passionate about the profession than Engineering or anything else. I found out that the arts/social science class wasn't for dullards and what that science teacher said was false. I now regret my decision and wish I didn't leave the class.
If I had the chance to travel back to the past for just ten minutes, I would go back to the time before I left the class. I would have my name written and signed in the other class. I wouldn't have left the class, I would have listened to the teacher.I would have saved myself from the endless regrets and stress of the science class and also from the envy I feel whenever I see lawyers or law students in their white and black.
If only I had the chance to travel back to the past for ten minutes, just ten minutes......