My Grade One Teacher Sent Me to Special Class #True Story

I was born with excess bone in my left nostril, so when I was a child it used to be very apparent in my voice. I sounded like how you would sound right now if you compressed both your nostrils and read that again.

You can already guess, that's funny and a good invitation for mockery and jokes in class.

Well!

So my Grade one teacher at Baines Junior School for some reason decided I was slow and could not fit into the normal class.

I didn't realize what was going on. All I know is one day I woke up in a special class, Tinaye Wayne type. I am not sure if everyone in that class belonged there either, they were way older than me.

Then next day my parents drove me to a school they were recommended to take me to a School were the disabled attend. I think it's called King George in Bulawayo.

Experts from there did several assessments on me and they said I was okay. I'm sure I went through a few Doctors as well. Now that I think of it , those my have been psychologists.

They said I was fine.

So my parents resolved to transfer me to Milton Junior School, where I did the rest of my primary Schooling till Grade 7.

In my first term there, I was position 19 out of 43 students (yes I remember) then later I would frequent the top 10. I was always in the A class even through to High School.

Of course this had many psychological effects on me early in life. For instance I was louder at home and more talkative there, because I wouldn't be judged for my voice than at School.

In the School environment I learnt to write more than speak.

I dug up this part of my history when I read something that talked about how our adult identities are based on past experiences that affected us emotionally.

In retrospect, I look back and realize that maybe my grade one teacher moving me to special class... made me care about being smart all my life.

Perhaps that's also the reason I hop from subject to subject, learning many different things, to just know that I'm never out of mental strength to do them.

I thank my parents for not just accepting the teachers verdict and I'm forever grateful for my teachers at Milton Junior School.

Every year they gave me a prize for literary writing except when I was in Grade 7 (I was preparing for exams)

When I was in Grade 7 I had a tonsilitis operation and the Dr noticed the excess bone in his X-Rays so he chipped it off half way and that improved the tonality of my voice which you hear today.

I have gone on to become a Dental Therapist, hip-hop emcee, 2D Animator and award winning blogger among other things and I hope this post motivates someone who has been told they can't.