The School of Hard Knocks

"The School of Hard Knocks"

(By: Jojo C. Pinca)

When I was a student in grade school I was never among the bright class, in fact never in all my student life. Unlike my classmates who loved to read and write, I prefer to play at the street. I hated school and I hated my teachers, since most of them were tyrants and despots. The classroom was like a prison and the lessons they were teaching were like poisons to me. As a schoolboy I was very problematic because the Mathematic subject was like a curse to me. During my high school years the cursed of the Math subjects still haunted me. That's why I took up Bachelor of Science in Criminology in college to evade the cursed subjects.

But something came up that changed my life and this happened when I was in second year college. My professor in English Literature was a graduate of Mass Communication (MASCOM). He encouraged us to read books and other literary articles not necessarily connected with the Criminology course that we are taking. According to this noble professor "you must know how to feed your brain properly" and this simple encouragement struck me. He even inspired us to broaden our vocabulary by searching the dictionary. So, I started reading English books, I remembered that the first book that I've read was an American classic novel entitled Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, then it was followed by The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Les Miserable by Victor Hugo. These three novels were the launching pad of my self-education. From then onwards I became a voracious reader, devouring everything from literary classics, history books, contemporary literatures, magazines, essays, poems, news broadsheets, philosophy, psychology, religion, detective stories and almost anything that was written. On top of this new found adventure I also became a word hunter, always looking for the meaning of the new English word that I encountered while I'm reading. Until now this 'dictionary habit' is still with me.

I've worked with many security agencies and companies and I always heard the same compliment from my office mates and superiors, they say that I'm good in writing and documentation. Modesty aside compared to my other contemporaries I think I am. Did I learn this writing skill from school? Definitely not, I gained this ability from my long years of self-study through constant reading. Hence, I'm proud to say that I'm a self-made man and not a product of conventional school. Am I a Maverick or what they called unconventional? Well, I guess that's what I am. I started reading voraciously when I was still a sophomore student until I reached the age of forty (that was two years ago). My years of self-study were longer and more fruitful compared to my formal schooling.

Why am I writing this? Because I want to pay my tribute and respect to those people who without the benefit of formal schooling have managed to reached the top. I salute the men and women from different field of endeavors that contributed enormous progress to the human race. The world is greatly indebted to great minds such as Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Steve Jobs, Hellen Keller, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison and other noble personalities. These people were the catalyst of human progress. Am I saying that children shouldn't go to school anymore? Of course not, but one must not discard the fact that people can learn good lessons outside the school if they disciplined themselves.

My eyesight is no longer reliable I can't read now without the eyeglass. Nevertheless, I have no regrets because before my vision became blurred I've used it in a worthy way. Don't wait for the teacher to teach you, teach yourself. According to Francis Bacon "reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man".