[Creative Writing Contest Vol. 17 | Education: What is or was your favorite and worst subject? What makes it or made it your favorite and worst subject?

Hope we are all in good shape. I will be sharing with us about my favorite and worst subjects so far.

In the quest for academic excellence there are always drawbacks as well as pushful subjects. My academic career met both of these categories of subjects at different points in time. I am that type of student who believes in challenges when it comes to choice of subjects within the scope of the curriculum. I have always loved the subjects that are challenging to most learners and I make sure I excel in them.

As a student who loves to take the tough subjects to the horn, it is with no doubt that my best subjects fall within science subjects. My best subjects so far are maths, physics, and chemistry. I consider chemistry best of all and I’m currently studying Geochemistry.

My line of education started from a technical field and chemistry was a minor during CAP levels. Due to this aspect, chemistry was considered as a tough subject by my mates and I. This hit my interest instead and I pushed forth and started exceling in chemistry. By 2010/2011 academic year I wrote CAP exams and failed. The next year, I changed school. Chemistry in my new school that year (2011/2012) never had a good teacher and so I forced to improvise in order to continue being good in chemistry. I organized maths, physics, and chemistry preparatory classes for I and my mates together with students from different departments. This aspect made me became a pro in chemistry (pro in the technical sense of chemistry). When I finally had CAP, I decided to leave Woodwork department and decided to apply for Industrial Chemistry (IC). I became the best in the department of IC after writing probatoire and only two of us passed the exams. During my Terminal (Bacc class) year, I was teaching chemistry to most students of my high school and also some from the gramma section. I had Bacc 2014/2015 academic year and was admitted in the University of Bamenda under Department of Geology, Mining, and Environmental Science where I’m currently doing post graduate studies with Geochemistry as specialty.

The photo by the right is my University performance in Geochemistry. Chemistry became my best subject at first not because of the teachers but because it was challenging to I and my mates. Later in the high school, my performance was influenced by learning conditions and tutors involved. I love chemistry 😉.

My worst subject was French and so far is still French. I’m an anglophone Cameroonian and with my country being bilingual, I am expected to be moderate in French language.

French is not that difficult as a subject but I believe the method of teaching practiced by most of the teachers handling this subject in the anglophone schools is not the best. As an anglophone student my first language is English but the teachers who have taught me French so far don’t see it that way. Imagine being taught a strange language in a strange tongue. A French teacher will be teaching French using completely the French language not allowing the anglophone learner ( I for one) to even understand what the class is all about. Most at times the teacher teaching French will focus on students who can already understand and speak French, leaving the pure anglophone student to suffer. Due to this teaching method, I find the subject French not interesting and I had poor results in the subject countless number of times. No matter how much effort I put in, it always ended up in failure. I believe in very few circumstances I had an average in French as a subject. I believe the French subject is not difficult but the method of teaching I have been through makes it very difficult and also makes French my worst subject of all times. The photo below is part of my high school results showing “very good” in chemistry and “weak” in French.

In general, I think no subject is too difficult to the learning community but one way or the order, something comes into play and makes learners to shy away from some subjects. My best subject will always be chemistry and the worst subject French unless one day I meet the right tutor. Thanks to @thegreens for another edition of such a wonderful contest. Thanks for reading.