Everyone had a subject they weren't good in school, for me it was Maths. I wasn't always the best student I could be an asshole, being off task, headphones in my ears, chatting to mates about parties and distracting other people. It took me a little while to realise that me acting like that wasn't getting me anywhere so I tried to change. What you see is a topographic image of my classroom and how it felt to be "the arty one" in class, disliked by my new year 11 to 12 math teacher I felt like a chaotic oddball of a person, all I wanted to do was leave.
At the start I gave it a real go, I was never expecting to be great at it but I thought at least I could improve, a change in teachers cut that idea rather short. Initially I tried, I moved myself from the people I would be distracted by, I asked this teacher for help when needed, I paid attention even if I struggled to grasp the concepts and asked for clarification...some of the responses I got were as follows "Well its a simple question, if you didn't get last time you won't get it now", "I knew a boy like you a few years ago, he didn't get these questions either", "of course you don't get it, artists rarely do"...after that I began asking my friends in class the questions I didn't understand...I got in trouble for that...so instead I stuck a headphone in my ear to avoid others chatting to me while I focused...got in trouble for that too. I ended up asking him if he could explain some equations to me after class had finished, the following day in front of my class he called me up and presented me with a year 7 textbook along with statement "Sam I wanted to tell you Im glad you asked for help, so i'm giving you something more at your level to study" he was smiling and shaking his head the whole time. I rarely attended math after that, I didn't have the option to switch classes, and my grades dropped. Im not mad at him though, turns out a few years later he was let go for hitting a student. From what I heard he had a bit of a breakdown, and his relationship outside of work wasn't going very well. Im not saying Im without fault, I could be bloody difficult and I will own that completely, but this man was angry and brought that into the classroom with him, id never had him before as a teacher yet I received the brunt of his frustrations in my class, students in other classes copped it too. Being on the other side of the fence I know how much pressure can be on your shoulders as a teacher...but he should have sought help, or maybe taken time off, and never treated students that way. In a round about way that experience pushed me to focus on art, so i guess that's a silver lining but I honestly hope he's doing better now. Nobody should live with all that anger, and nobody should take it out on others.