Experiences as a Class Monitor
I have never understood how a teacher chooses a class monitor from a whole class of 40-60 students. Throughout my school years, I have seen many monitors but to date, I could not find out properly why those students were chosen in the first place. In fact, I never hoped that I could be a monitor but to my surprise, I was also made one. In my early school days, I was always excited to become monitor because I was the kind of kid who couldn’t sit in one place. I hated sitting in the classroom but loved to play in school-ground. Monitors were allowed to roam freely in the school building as nobody questions them about their trip. It was strongly assumed that class monitors are responsible persons and they might be out of class to assist their teacher. I wanted that power of free movement as a class monitor.
During those days, I was kind of a carefree and a bit selfish student. I wanted to have my freedom, and I did not have any interest in mending the class or assisting the teacher. I was not given a chance, not because of my carefree attitude but because of prevalent favouritism in my school. My teachers did not treat students equally. There were two categories of students in my class—A group that used to take private tuition from that teacher and another set of students who don’t take. She used to make, her favourite students, a monitor; they were supposed from her group of tuition students.
As I grew older, I started realizing the difficulties of a monitoring job as it was a hectic job. It requires a certain level of discipline and commitment. At that time, for me, discipline meant to be in imprisonment and I was a kind of freedom fighter. How could I have surrendered my freedom against the mere job of a monitor? I was so sure that I can’t sacrifice my attitude for sake of getting the perks of being a monitor. And those perks were—extra care from the teacher, attention from fellow students, a sense of pride, and a permanent seat in the front row of the classroom.
For a 10-year kid, these privileges were trivial, and it does not matter where you sit in the classroom if your mind is on the playground you, can’t focus on the teacher. I always wanted to become the captain of my school’s football team. I realized late in my school days that by never being a monitor, I had committed a grave mistake. Those who had been a monitor in their academic career were used to get chance in the selection process of the captain. Then I had no other option but to change my school and was admitted to a school that had a bigger playground than my current school. I was mad about playing and I was never absent on Fridays and Saturdays for those days we used to have games-period.
I left my school after completing class-8. Although it is difficult to leave a school where you have your besties instead I changed my school. I was happy because I got admission into a school of my choice. I became happier when I came to know that my new school have a democratic criterion for choosing a class monitor. My first year at the new school was hard because I had to learn rules and regulations by heart to catch the attention of my teachers. The selection of class monitor was ambiguous as it was based on—performance in studies and sports, behaviour with teachers and fellow students, and obvious choice of students and teachers. My strengths were sports and a frank attitude. I had good terms with almost every student in my school. I had to work on my studies and relationship with the teachers for that I diligently studied in class-9. I scored 5th rank in my class and it was a moment of joy. For the first time in my life, I had come to a rank in the single digit.
Soon I entered into class 10th with much vigour and enthusiasm. At the start of the academic session, I applied for the monitor role. I think because of my efforts in studies and sports, I cleared the first two stages of selection but I was a bit anxious about the last stage which included voting from teachers and fellow students. Somehow teachers were not convinced about me as a monitor but by the huge majority of votes from students I was selected. It was an exuberant day; I couldn’t sleep that night. My dream of becoming captain was so close to me.
I was over cloud nine! As soon as I landed back on earth, I was given a short training from the preceding monitor. Trained and fully equipped with my powers, I started assisting teachers and also my friends. If I were asked, how many friends do you have? I would have counted the total number of students in my class. Yes, the whole class was my friend. Bearing the brunt of favouritism from my previous school, here, I couldn’t favour one student more than the other. So, I started favouring them all.
I did not realise when I as an ambassador of teachers turned against them. They were furious to see a happy classroom under my conduct. I was given a warning that if I won't follow the teacher’s order, I would not be allowed to apply for the captain post. I was so close to my selection, but I could not betray my friends. I was puzzled, so I decided to keep continuing the way I was conducting the class.
Ultimately, I was removed from the monitoring role and my dream of becoming captain shattered the very day. For some days, I had been physically present in the classroom but my mind had been mourning the death of my dream. Soon the pressure of 10th Boards overshadowed my grief. I focused my attention back on my studies. As I was a good player in sports so I did not go into a depression of any sort. I learnt a lot from my setback—being playful in life can help you achieve success; discipline is most important in life; You can’t go far in your life with a selfish attitude.