I Not Stupid

I shared a brief chapter of my life during the Public Speaking course that I conducted just now.

I wasn't shy to say that I had a poor academic beginning. I was not a star student. Lying on the grass looking at the sky, I couldn't even make it to be among the trees.

I barely passed by PSLE. Never had a blue ink marked next to Mathematics, Science and many other subjects throughout the entire 10 years of primary and secondary education.

And as the story goes, I passed one subject for my GCE O-Level. Malay at either C5 or C6 I can't really remember. I was in the eyes of many, a lost hope. Stupid and slow.

Everything changes upon the death of my father. It was an awakening...that simply came too late. But better than never. I took my O-Level again and thereafter my A-Level both as a private candidate. After National Service, I joined the Institute of Education and obtained my Certificate-in-Education.

Like a brain possessed, I continued my further studies at night. Three years later, I graduated from the University of London with a Law degree (Second Class Lower Honours). Went on to UK to do my Bar with Lincoln's Inn.

Another three years gone by before I took a short career break in broadcasting and went to Gold Coast Australia to do a Master in Mass Communication in which I came up top of my cohort.

I was invited to do PhD by the university in the Ethnographic Study of the Practice of Public Relations in Singapore. After 1 year, I left the doctorate programme because I pursued management opportunities in several global PR agencies. It was a tactical error that now denies me of being called Dr Fahmi Rais. To make up for the loss, I applied and was admitted to Leicester University, UK to do a Master of Science programme in Forensic Psychology. I didn't manage to complete that either due to career advancement.

The point is, I was someone nobody believed in. I would want to think that my parents have never given up hope on me. But they didn't live long enough to see me going up the stage taking the scroll in a convocation.

The same boy who barely scraped through every year end throughout the first 10 years of formal education and gotten just 1 pass in the first O-Level examination could have counted on the possibility of 1 PhD, 2 Masters and 1 Honours Degree, all within another 10 years of timeframe.

That possibility now just turned out to be 1 Master, 1 Honours Degree and double the Pride. I am not stupid nor is your son, daughter, cousin, niece, nephew or whoever he or she might be that are now scoring below your expectations. Do not lose hope on anyone in the same manner you dare not lose hope on yourself.

A hard knock do come handy to wake up a sleeping mind. Add some faith to it too.

I turned out ok. More ok than most of my classmates that did better than me in school.