What will be shall be

I Not Stupid Too

I rented Jack Neo's movie I not Stupid Too a couple of days ago. I like Jack Neo's movies because his movies reflects closely to our everyday's life. 'I Not Stupid Too' is a sequel to another of his hit movie 'I Not Stupid' a few years back.

'I Not Stupid Too' is about a smart boy whose talents are not appreciated by his parents. His parents are both successful people in their respective working fields and no matter how well the boy does, it's always not enough for them. Their neligence to the child eventually made him walk the wrong path.

I like the movie not totally because of the story of this boy. What I was drawn to was the backdrop of the movie where the whole class was classified as the 'rotten apples' of the school. They were not given much of a chance and were left to rot and way back in Secondary School, I was such a condemned case as well.

I was made to repeat my Secondary 3 after hardly passing any subjects except for my English and Chinese. Worse was to be followed when I failed again the following year. Failing 2 Sec 3 years was no joking matter. I faced being expelled from the school. In the end, I was to be dropped to the Normal Academic stream to take 'N' levels.

By then, almost all the teachers already knew who I am. I was the failure in their eyes. Any new teachers who came in the class will keep a look-out for me. They will go," so you are Yifan..." and shook his or her head.

I was already well condemned by some teachers even before they started to teach me. I remembered my Geography teacher in my final year when I was taking my 'O' levels. She would find the slightest excuse to chase me out of the class. When she was writing on the whiteboard and the class was noisy, she would just turn around and ask me to get out of the class. When I wanted to borrow a pen from my classmate, she would ask me not to disturb my classmate and ask me to get out. She once barked in my face," I can ensure you! You will never pass your Geography!" I got B3 eventually for my 'O' levels Geography. Not too bad from a Condemned student.

My Chinese teacher was another one. I scored an A2 for my Chinese paper in the mid-year exams. He eyed me suspiciously and asked whether I cheated or not. I remembered replying "Yah. So what?" and walked away. Although I always slept in class during his lessons, my chinese has always been not too bad all along. I was already used to such remarks already.

But of course, not all the teachers are like that. They were some who consistently encouraged me and gave me support. They even asked me never to hesitate to approach them should I have any problems. My principal would also talk to me one-on-one regularly to ensure that I am on the right track.

The best was my parents. They never once hit me nor scolded me for doing badly. My mum would always ask me to try harder and supported me in any way she could but I knew she was very hurt. My dad was equally supportive as well, which made me all the more guilty.

When the 'O' levels results was released, I was the first person in the class to receive my results. I had done pretty well compared to the rest of my peers and my principal and discipline master were already waiting by one side to congraduate me. They had already checked my results before me and knew I had done well. I was touched by that gesture and very grateful for the numerous chances they had given.

I had wanted to give it up altogether when I failed my Sec 3 the 2nd time round. I was very lucky because while I have given up, the ones beside me had not. I was 'pulled back' at the very last moment and for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you for believing I Not Stupid Too.

posted by malmoncolo @ 10:46 PM