Going back to school as a mature student

The Principal, Mr. Yohanan, MA, M.ED., had assigned for himself the class on Geometry. The class was a mix of rich and poor students. However, Johnny came from a family who were at the subsistence level of existence and therefore, with great difficulty had got him admitted to an above average school of which         Mr. Yohanan was the principal.

Arguably, this was the only English medium school in the vicinity of over 10 miles from the Fertilizer Township.

It is quite natural that the parents who struggle for a living want, at least, for their wards a better standard of living and hope that they might probably provide them happiness towards the nadir of their lives. In order to ensure this, they invest the major part of their savings or to be more appropriate, shall we say their earnings, by admitting their children to such a formidable temple of learning to lay a firm foundation.

Now Johnny being a small boy, oblivious of the circumstances that had lead, to his joining this prestigious school obeyed whatever instructions he got and understood from the teachers and his parents. But there were many things that could probably be natural, genetic or influenced by the surroundings, family background, peers and so on that could channelize the mind of the boy to unknown destinations of fantasy. Let us say, no why let us say, in reality a few words got ingrained in the mind of Johnny. The word “poor” for Johnny was meant to be financially fragile, whereas the real meaning of “poor” that the school teachers alluded to was being academically weak.

Due to this ambiguity Johnny never used to take study seriously since he was well aware that he comes from a family who are on the borders of poverty and consequently poor and his classmates, however, who are at the center of comfort and wealth are invariably good, very good, excellent, and distinguished.

It was also not very easy for the parents to diagnose this psychological fixity that lead to Johnny remaining average to below average student throughout his school days. There were of course glimpses of genius to gauge in Johnny but not good enough to garner confidence to pursue studies in colleges and institutions of eminence.

It is also very, very, rare to see a teacher focusing on a weak student and try to turn the corner for him. Teacher is comfortable with dealing with students who are already good. The onus is only on the student to find ways and means to get out of the rut that he is in.

Those were the days when Johnny was student of science and thought engineering was the subject he should pursue pushing aside the humanities. With this state of mind he applied for engineering entrance examinations in most of the states and spent a forbidding amount of money of his parents to no avail. The travel and stay at different places also took its toll on him. Johnny was mentally and physically famished. What he could see was that all his classmates have moved forward and he fumbled to figure out what to do next.

Those were the times when internet was unimaginable and soft copies unheard of. Shortage of books and libraries, paucity of guides and indifference of peers made taking right decisions difficult.

As any normal person would think, that is the right age to choose a career and build a bright future. But that did not seem to be the case for Johnny. He initially decided to take Commerce and somehow completed it and that pushed him further down the drain. What he pursued as a hobby, for him became his source for bread winning and not his main education. Johnny’s interest in sports, movies, travelling also did not bear the fruit it does these days, in those days.

After reaching the dusk of his youth, subsequent decades started decaying his health, but all of a sudden, in the middle of his life, was it epiphany, carpe diem that Johnny laid his hands on a few books that made him think, all is not lost. He read John Barth and always remembered these lines from his work “The Floating Opera”, {I am suffering from sub-acute bacteriological endocarditis having a tendency to myocardial infract. The burden of illness is death can take place any moment”}.

Thereafter, Johnny read plays of Christopher Marlowe and was astonished by the number of languages Marlowe was conversant with at a tender age of 20 to 25 which motivated Johnny to go deeper into his works and his contemporaries and started gaining confidence and widened his horizon of knowledge and achieved decent marks to pursue his doctorate and started to find meaning to his life and presenting him a second chance. This was undoubtedly also on account of the advancement in the field of technology, the internet, availability of on line lectures which was lacking in those times when Johnny was in his youth and now available with comparable ease, and profitable use of the scarce commodity, time, Johnny feels he has got a second chance and is amply compensated by destiny. Johnny is now quite sure that he will reach greater heights as his vision has become clearer and target achievable. Johnny will soon be visiting the best of schools of learning and too as a very mature student. Attributes of maturing being, remaining totally focused on the area of his interest and rejuvenate with positivity and refrain from all negative thoughts, petty bickering and backbiting.

“Better late than never” is another saying that kept hammering in the thoughts of Johnny and served him well to take a second chance and forge ahead leaving behind what things had prevented Johnny from recognizing himself. As the world moved forward he also found his path and has also the incentives to take the journey, enjoy the journey and not be much worried about the destination but the sincerity to reach thanking destiny for providing a second chance.