I am and was wondering as to what and how to word the history of my education. I am aware of two types of education although there may be many more types which I would avoid mentioning here in this article. The two types are formal (school, college, workplace, institution) and informal (home, parents, family, relations, friends, neighbors).
Looking back at my childhood, adolescent hood, teen hood, and man hood much of it has been in an informal from the time of my birth in this world. The formal education in my life began when my mummy began to teach me to write, and say the alphabets A B C….Z and learn the numbers 1 2 3…20, to see and say the names of color, fruits, vegetables, flowers, animals (pets & wild, domestic), birds, insect, all this was done when I was 3 years young. All the preparation for the interview and the admission to the school Antonio Desouza High School (ANZA) another version of it is All Naughty Zoo Animals my school is situated in Byculla, Mumbai near the famous Victoria Garden then called as Jija Matiya Udyaan now called Rani Baug.
Throughout the years of my schooling I was always an average student getting ranks from 12th – 20th securing a percentage in the range of 55% - 65%. This never hindered my opportunities to be part of and grow in extra-curricular activities of the school like acting, singing, dancing, being the master of compare as well as of personal interest like that of making and having friends with no age, no class, no religion, no color, barriers. I also held certificates though not in consistency in subjects of interest like mathematics, science, & social studies. Whether it was luck or fate deserved it I was consistent in one thing getting certificates throughout my years of schooling was that in Religion, or Catechism. Well, I was not a full bookworm but half a bookworm because when it came to studies I would always do extra-reading, I loved doing it. I never asked my parents or my teachers any query or help but I would read and play with the textbook alone. My mom being a teacher as her profession told me never to use guides, or in my pocket or self-study but use the textbook alone. I must say this helped me a lot as a child and even now.
My primary schooling 1st – 4th was days or rather moments filled with great importance as those were the times I began to learn and grow. My secondary schooling 5th - 10th was days when I really began to grow in all the dimensions possible good as well as bad. The crucial standard was that of my 9th where for the first time I failed in all three language subjects (English, Hindi, and Marathi) and that too in all the three exams. I was in desperate need of marks to jump to the 10th standard otherwise I would have been detained. It was time to pull my socks up and I did indeed pull them up and came out with flying colors. And finally finished schooling by passing the 10th Std securing 58%
Moving ahead in life, I joined the aspirantate, wherein I did my college at Don Bosco, Lonavala. I studied in the stream of Arts. These were the days where I bloomed as a grain of wheat (obedient) as well as of weed (crook, kidda). I learnt a lot of skills and acquired talents in music and games. Of course, studies were never a problem because I didn’t aim for higher, nor did I race my self in the competition. I enjoyed and loved playing an average student and passed my 12th with 63.28%
With a two year break form the academic world, I was in the Salesian academic world budding in my religious and Salesian life, doing my Pre-Novitiate and Novitiate. These were the years I read & studied the Constitutions of Salesian, Read the memoirs (although I have been reading from my aspirantate days), Canon Laws, Documents of the Church, Study on Missal and picking up on languages. History repeats itself; here too I was an average student securing 65% and 70%
After my profession as a Salesian religious, I began to do philosophy as well as the continuation of secular study. And so I was pursuing my studies in B.ph & B.A these were the days of my life wherein I can say that I might have read the most amount (quality & quantity) of books which the library here holds. Here too, at the end of my three years of venture into both the Bachelor degrees I secured an average percentage of 70% & 65% respectively. Presently, I am pursuing my philosophical venture by doing M.ph and after a year of reading & studying I still think and feel that I am an average student.
An Average Student with More Mileage…
Romero D’Souza
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