article by someone from South Lanarkshire

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My Story

Part I School Days

In my schooldays every day was a winter's day. I couldn't wait to get to school. I was raring to go!

After 6 months at primary, however, one morning I just didn't want to go.  My teacher had called me a simpleton!  It went from bad to worse.  That was the start of my journey through hell!  I was always held back in class so I was older than my peers.  I got put into a tutorial class and we did nothing.  The teacher sat and fiddled.  When HMI appeared the teacher had us all primed on what to say.  If we complained about anything, we got belted for it.  Unbelievable.
 

Secondary school was little better. I was continually frustrated. All the teachers, to me, were child minders. I left at  15, feeling it had been a waste of time.

Part II Adult Days

I then went to a Training Centre.  It was great!  There, I learned many practical skills including welding and electrical.  I was there for a year.  Finally, I was feeding my mind.  During 4 years of day release at college, I enjoyed the learning process apart from when it came to exam time and I couldn’t put down on paper what I’d learned.  My poor spelling was a particular handicap.  I used to torture myself at home trying to memorise whole words to learn how to spell them.  I used the same word constantly.  My then boss noticed this and told everyone I couldn’t write!

When I was 29, I had a breakdown. One of the reasons was that my poor education, had, like a ghost, come back to haunt me. My bullying boss was the last straw.

When I recovered, a group called LAMH put me in touch with Lindsay which is when I thought I'd won the lottery! My whole life turned around. There were only two of us in the class at that time, so I got practically one to one attention. Learning to break words down into small bits and working through a book called "WORD WASP" have improved my spelling dramatically.
 

Part III Now

I am better able to communicate with others, the self doubt that had plagued me has gone and my literacy skills have improved enormously.  I have also joined a computing class, where I am making steady progress, whereas I had to leave a similar class several years ago as I found it too stressful.

ALL my life, I had felt like an old suit that needed a good press.  Now I'm going about like a brand new £1,000 one!

anon.

Webmaster replies

Jings, I don't know what to say.  

What a story, and the sad thing is that many more will have suffered the same sort of hell. 

But you, unlike most others, have been able to do something about it; and that's great.

I like the simile at the end where you use the 'old suit' to describe what you felt like before you started to make things better for yourself. 

You 'seam' as if you are going about shining like a brand new pin and as keen as mustard to continue with your learning.

Well done, and all the best for the future.

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