Crying In Math Class by Sidney

Crying In Math Class by Sidney - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

All the numbers in math are choking me, and all the possibilities to uncover the answer is suffocating. Learning math has always been a weakness of mine and it all started in the 5th grade when I was the only kid in class who didn’t know how to tell time. I had to use the bathroom, which meant that I had to sign out on the sheet. The sheet included your name, the date and time of departure. The latter requirement forced me to delay my bathroom trip until lunch where there was no sheet. On this day though it was raining, the sound of gushing water against the window made it hard to forget my crave for the bathroom. My math teacher saw my squirms and told me to just go. With urgency almost falling over myself trying to make it past the door I darted across everyone’s book bag. Crossing the threshold a smile leaped across my face, I had beaten the sheet!
But then my teacher’s words pulled me back “The sheet Sidney, fill it out come back”. I sank into myself hunching over walking backwards towards my doom. At that moment the class was watching me, my teacher was watching me. I stood frozen,
”What time is it” I whimpered.
“Look at the clock” my teacher said. I cocked my head sideways and aligned my fingers with the ticks of the clock to count around. I was there for what felt like an hour counting. That day I learned how to tell time because my teacher had noticed my struggle and stopped the class to teach us all. During the lesson I was crying from embarrassment because I was afraid to ask for help. I learned that school is all about learning new things that should be the goal everyday. But I fail at my goal to learn if I am too prideful to ask for help. Although this was in middle school I carry the lesson my teacher taught me in my high school endeavors. I now am looking forward to enrolling in AP Calculus due to my resilient work ethic in calculus. I went to tutoring often and developed a good relationship with my math teacher. I still cry in class from time to time whenever I get heated over difficult concepts, but I am no longer embarrassed to care so much for my education.