After my whole class flunked a mock GCSE, Miss T’s home truths helped instil a work ethic that has been crucial to my career
“Fix up. It’s not me who needs their GCSEs – it’s you!” These words were barked at my year 10 science class by our science teacher and form tutor, Miss T. And deservedly so, because we had just suffered the ignominy of collectively flunking a GCSE mock exam. All 30 of us.
Miss T was relatively young, but she was old-school in her approach – she had a low threshold for nonsense. While I considered this mock an inconsequential test – a pre-season friendly, if you will – she treated it like an FA Cup semi-final. To put it another way, it was half-time and we were losing badly, so she gave us the hairdryer treatment: a relentless, 15-minute tirade berating us for our lack of aptitude and our attitude.
Michael Akadiri is an award-winning standup comedian and junior doctor. His debut Edinburgh fringe show, No Scrubs, was nominated for the Biggest Award in Comedy and is available to watch on YouTube
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