In middle school, the divide between the intelligence of my peers and began. I found myself in the front of the pack. I knew what was going on, and I easily got A's with minimal effort. It was natural in a way. When high school came, this trend continued at first. My counselors and teachers encouraged me to take dual enrollment courses and AP level classes. I was all for it; how hard could it be, right?
Wrong. I took my first AP class, European History. It was consequently also my first C. I was pissed, and stopped taking it at semester, where I moved back into the regular World History class finishing with an easy A. Junior year of high school, I gave harder classes another shot. I mean if other people could do it, so could I. So I took two AP classes that year, finishing with two B's. This wasn't good enough for me, and I knew I could do better.
Senior year came around and I bravely signed up for four AP classes. Four. I also started going to tutoring as well. I was nervous at first, thinking all the other kids in my class knew I was dumber than them because I couldn't pick up on the information as quickly. But it was all in my head. No one even knew I went to tutoring until I was teaching a classmate a calculus problem that I knew how to do before everyone else. It was in that moment that I was so grateful to have tutor around, and I was proud to know that I was using my school's resources to help me learn. I started convincing others to come with me to after school tutoring, and it picked up speed. I ended up getting two A's and two B's in those classes. I wasn't upset about the B's either because I knew that I had tried my hardest, and I did absolute best.
Now in college, I have seen several people fail course after course, refusing to get help or tutoring. I watch other people struggle to ask for this kind of help. I am by no means smart enough or confident to tutor others, but I try to encourage others to seek out help. I am thankful because my school has complementary tutoring and a success center aimed to help people pass classes. I am also an athlete, so I can get one on one tutoring at whatever time I want.
I am proud that I get tutored. It shows initiative and that I care about my grades and also the content enough to seek out extra help. A sign of a mature person is being humble, and I think being proud of going to tutoring is just that. You are not dumb if you get tutoring. You're dumb if you are utilizing all the resources you can to be successful. So, seek out a tutor and watch your learning capabilities sky rocket!
