When I used to be Brilliant

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All through primary school, I was the most brilliant in my class. As in seriously, I was really really brilliant, such that I didn’t know how brilliant I was, lol. And here are the two reasons.

Even though I was extremely brilliant, I never came first in class. The reason is I went to one of those primary schools that never gave class positions. I don’t know their reason, but they never did.

Secondly, as we might all know, there’s an unwritten rule that the most brilliant student always became class captain, and wrote down the names of noise makers. As for me, all through my years in primary school, I was never made class captain. Never! I was the chief noise maker, and as I progressed from class to class, all teachers nicknamed me parrot. My name was always (I mean ALWAYS) on the list of noise makers.

Sometimes, I even determined that “today, my name will not be on the list of noise makers.” And I will try my best to keep quiet, but one way or the other, I always ended up there, and got punished.

Every time it was period to vote or choose class captain, either by student election or teacher appointment, I eagerly waited to be named, after all, there’s an unwritten rule that the brilliant ones should lead, but time after time, my hopes were dashed.

I remember one time in primary 4, when they called all the brilliant ones out, and a miracle happened, I finally became the assistant class captain, having the second highest vote. I was so elated, but my position did not last more than a day or two because I made too much noise, but at least, I had the privilege to write down the names of noise makers for 2 days, and beat my fellow classmates with ruler if I saw their eye open during the period they are supposed to rest their heads on the desk, and sleep. Lol.

Another reason I wasn’t class captain, I suspect, was that I wasn’t one of the neatest. It was the days of rubber sandals, and my socks always found a way to get lost before the end of the term, and my rubber sandals would cut. Also, I had 2 uniforms, which I wore all through the week, and washed weekends. In my family, once you misplace your socks, and cut your sandals, you are on your own till the end of the term. My mum was mega strict, lol.

So picture this short girl on gorimapa (my mum used to skin my head with blade and comb), with dirty uniform, no socks, and tattered rubber sandals. To cap it all up, she is a talkative whose loud voice disturbs the whole class. Is that who you really want to be the class captain? The guy who was class captain most times was one guy, Feyisayo, from a rich home, handsome, and just a bit brilliant. Imagine, corruption have started from primary school, because people always said the reason he became class captain is because he’s from a rich home.

Anyway, back to the subject of brilliancy. I used to get between 98 and 100 over 100 in most subjects. I was so brilliant that my mum thought I was one genius from out of space. I mean, the gap I gave the person next to me couldn’t have been measured. I wasn’t even aware of how brilliant I was until sometime in senior secondary school, when I looked at my primary school report sheets. By the age of 8, I was already in secondary school, and out by the age of 14.

Anyway, by now, you should figure out that there is no point to this article. I am just writing it to let you all know that in primary school, I was a genius, but I was never named first position, or made class captain. How sad?