Most of the time, being left-handed is fun. It's a mostly benign characteristic that sets you apart from the crowd. But sometimes it's harder, and it's never harder than as a student.
1. Desks
Left-handed desks are few and far between. I've walked into a lecture hall of 200 seats before, where there wasn't one lefty desk. I asked an older student if there were any, and she just looked confused and suggested I sit at the table set up at the very back of the lecture hall. I had to choose between having to squint to see anything on the teacher's PowerPoint or sitting in a horribly uncomfortable angle.
2. Sitting next to people
Sometimes the setup of a classroom requires close quarters. Few things are more annoying than having to constantly bump elbows with the righty sitting next to you.
3. Three-ring binders
Lefties are limited in their school supply choices. I can't abide constantly bumping into the rings on three-ring binders, so those are out of the picture. Oh, and don't get me started on the countless cute spiral notebooks I've had to pass up.
4. Ballpoint pens
Ballpoint pens rarely work for lefties, since you're pushing the pen instead of pulling it.
5. The comments
Am I left-handed? Yeah, what tipped you off?
6. Ink smudges
Being left-handed means dragging your hand across your writing, which means...endless ink smudges. They're far too tiresome to wash off, so just consider smudges a lefty accessory.
7. Pencil smudges
Even worse than ink smudges are pencil smudges, which accumulate even faster and rub off onto everything you brush.
8. Test-taking
Taking tests is hard enough, but lefties have even more to worry about. Is my hand smudging my writing too much? Is my teacher going to take points off for decreased legibility?
9. People seem to forget that lefties exist...
Lefties make up about ten percent of the population. Sure, it's a minority, but we're not unicorns.
10. ...but at least you have instant kinship with other lefties
It's an easy conversation starter: "Hey, you're left-handed too!" Bam. Instant connection. Even if you never talk to each other again, through every ink smudge, three-ring binder, or righty's ridiculous comment, you know you stand together in lefty solidarity.
