As always I am late to class. Everyone is looking at me: some with understanding, some with indifference, and some with demeaning. I can definitely understand all of them. She has been late for the last 3 classes, he hasn’t slept in 4 days and does not care about anything any more, and she is the perfect student, who just does not have any academic flaws. It is hard to determine which one of these I would be. Well, most certainly I wouldn’t be the flawless student. That does not mean that I am not smart or only get bad grades, I am just average. Well, maybe I have more attendance problems than most. But how many people have to drive to school for an hour without traffic every day? Being as quiet in class as I can be, sometimes I just cannot help, but express my opinion. I value my opinion as it has been formed through various studies. I have knowledge an average Joe wouldn’t think of. Can someone imagine a 10-year-old going into an Egyptian exhibit in the museum and acting as though she is a tour guide, explaining everything about the pieces and the history period to her parents? And then moving onto the next Greek exhibit and doing the same thing? That 10-year-old was me.
Aside from being literate in the ancient art history I am also fluent in two languages – Russian and English. We moved to the US five days before my 16th birthday. I have been learning English since I was 8. Even though I’ve been studying for such a long time I still couldn’t speak it very well upon arrival. It was a devastating experience for me, especially since my writing was even worse than my speaking. In Russia I won several competitions on the Russian language. My essays, poems, book reports, and plays were always set as the examples to the other students. Couple of my works has even been published in the school book. I also took a second place in the region’s Russian grammar competition losing 1st place by just 2 points. I used to really enjoy writing, but my inability to be as good at it as I once was killed that passion.
Besides writing I also excelled in math. As unusual of a pairing as it is, but with my dad being a math fanatic it was barely possible not to be the best one in class in algebra and geometry (in Russia those two are different subjects). My dad started teaching me limits when I was in 5th grade and moved onto derivatives by the 6th grade. I hated him for that. All the fights I have had with my math teacher, because I didn’t completely understand what my dad tried to explain to me. But after all that torture I managed to transfer to a different high school, where students were required to pass an entry exam in math and physics. The school was a college preparatory school for math science majors. College professors were our teachers. I got in withstanding the competition of 3 people to a spot. Considering all my life I’ve been going to a school focused on liberal arts and social studies that was one of the biggest achievements in my life so far.
Even though I appear to be that sloppy kid, who is always late to class, there is much more to me, my education, and my literacy than one would see with a first sight.