I Never Gave Up

Going back to school as an adult righted some long-standing wrongs

It’s never too late to learn (Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash)

I had a rough time of it at school, and I have reported some of my educational misfortunes, most of which were self-inflicted, via anecdotes on this platform. To summarise my plight, I became a persistent truant, and I was sent to a children’s home to see out the final three months of my education. I left school at the earliest opportunity, which was Easter, but this meant leaving without any qualifications.

A Huge Disappointment

I was a huge disappointment to my parents, and my teachers. For on the days I did attend school, I had shown some promise, particularly in English. I remember one lesson, in which the class was tasked with writing an essay on what each of us would do, were we to have unlimited financial resources. I opted for buying a desert island, as that was the most expensive item in my brother’s Go for Broke board game.

The following week, having marked our essays, the teacher stood by his desk and set about handing back our books. But he paused for a moment, saying he simply must read out this rather excellent line to the class. It was from my essay, and it was in reference to my desert island:

…where everything is so refined, even the monkeys cock their little fingers as they drink from coconuts in the palm trees.