From that day started getting money from Junior and when they are in a lesson they try to make him understand. Godwin was seeing Peter as someone who is very intelligent despite he don’t ever see him read. He disturb but doesn’t joke with his stationeries. Peter has a very nice handwriting and his books were kept neat, likewise his uniform in as much as it was big. Godwin liked his handwriting and wanted to learn. Though his own wasn’t bad but he prefer Peter’s own.
Godwin was getting tired of this method of going to school and taking two or three lessons for the whole school hours. He came up with an idea. To go and inform whoever has lesson with them.
“But I won’t be the one to talk when we get there. I will only show you the teachers and you’ll talk to them” Peter said.
“We need class Monitor to go with us”
“Don’t go with David. They will think it’s all his idea and we are just his company”
“Ok. So, but I hope you will work into the staff room with me?”
“You know many teachers there knows me and they would want to seize me. Anyway, let’s try first”
“If they have already known you as someone who disturbs. Seeing you do good things from time to time will convince them that you have changed”
“It is my nature to disturb o”
“But you can give it limits. You can make positive use of it. I’m glad you call it disturbance not stubbornness”
They called in a teacher for his lesson. It was mathematics period. The lesson for the day was logarithms. A topic involving zeroes. The lesson was interactive which at the end of some equations he asks questions like, ‘do you understand?’ Everyone would shout ‘yes sir' 'Any questions?”, “No sir” “Should we proceed?” Yes sir”
The teacher was pleased that his lesson was going well until he has to test their ability by asking random questions. That was when the class became quiet. Since he was the one choosing who would answer his questions and not appointing those ready, it caused tension in the class. The timid ones were certain that they have trouble to face.
The first person did not answer likewise the second and third. What a terrible class! The teacher could not believe these were the same students shouting yes to which ever question he asked some minutes ago. He adopted a heart throbbing method, which was asking each person where he began finding difficulty in each equation.
“Sir, please I have a question” Peter spoke.
“Good! I have been expecting something of this kind. Let’s hear you”
“Do you mind I ask a question outside this topic?”
“Anyway, I am here to teach you. Therefore whatever you don’t understand I can help you out”
“Sir, why do we learn mathematics”
“Maths as you all know is base on assumption. Its purpose is solely to boost your logical thinking”
“Ok. It’s not bad. But sir, why are we not allowed to decide on whether we need maths or not?”
“The decision is not yours to make. maths is compulsory. If you are allowed to choose maybe few or none of you students will choose it”
“That’s because we are usually beaten for what we did not negotiate for”
The teacher smiled.
“Mathematics is very simple. I can acclaim it to be the simplest subject. All that’s required of you is attention. Only if you can give to it all your time and determine within yourself that you want to understand maths you will see yourself solving whatever you find on your table with immense ease”
“Sir, it’s not about attention. I have tried that on several occasions. And at this extent I am supposed to know what I can do and what I can not do. I think I don’t have that brain for maths. Brains are not same. Forcing myself to learn it is wasting the time I should use to learn something else. It’s better to go home with little than nothing. Maths is not useful to me, to be sincere”
“Don’t say that”
“Sir, think of it. If I graduate as a banker, entrepreneur, lawyer, Doctor and the rest, who would come and ask me to find the value of X? Or the reason why Y is equal to two, When maths is base on assumption? just as you professed earlier. Already x is not a number. X emerged in the picture by assumption, if it must have a value then it should be anything you want it to be”
“Let’s not talk further about that. No more questions for today for we have exhausted our time confronting other issues. But I urge you not to let the negative impression you have about maths discourage you. Study harder and see yourself elevating. See you next time”
He left the class. Immediately noise erupted in the class. They began talking about the courage Peter had by opposing the importance of mathematics in the face of the teacher. As they continued the noise two senior students walked in. One was a prefect and the other was not. Only few sighted them on time, so they dodged. The unlucky ones were asked to remain the way they are. Even at the command given those at the back who thought they were not seen sat down.
The prefect asked those still standing to come out and they did but they refused to be beaten. They were murmurings among them. Their reason was these, they complained that one of the boy is not a perfect, he’s just a friend to the perfect, but he’s the one more eager to flog them. It gradually grew to a more serious issue. They said they would allow only the prefect to beat them and not the other person who wasn’t a perfect.
“I asked him to flog you. He is working on my orders” The prefect yelled.
“If you can’t do the work you are asked to do then simply go to those who made you prefect and tell them you can’t do it any longer so they can look for someone more eligible to replace you” One of the big boys at the back stood firm.
It became a challenge to the prefect and his friend brought. But the senior students from ss2 could not compromise for any reason. How could they disobey his orders? They believed they had the power to do anything they want without seeking anyone’s consent and opinion. So they began to act with force. The senior students began to flog while the ss1 students rushed to close the doors and windows so that more prefects won’t come in. The two senior students were thoroughly dealt with before they were allowed to go.
After the, fight Ss2 students threatened to fight ss1 but before then Ss1 have already reported to the school authority and the school were not in support of what the prefect did. But even so, the Ss1 were to be punished for the impolitic step they took by fighting a prefect, but since the ss2 insisted on handling the case themselves the school decided the Ss1 would go free and if the ss2 doesn’t allow the case to die then they would have the entire school to contend with. The ss2 returned to their classes swearing not to let go.