I Was Number One

I was used to finishing math with the top score in my class. How did I know that I was the top in my class? Teachers generally printed spreadsheets and posted them at the back of their classrooms. Grades were shown according to student IDs. These spreadsheets were usually sorted by grades (in terms of percentage). I could easily go back there before class and check. It was easy to find my score because it was always the first one listed.

One of my math teachers decided to show some praise for his top performers by posting his top students for each class on the board up front. I was the top performer for my class, so my name was displayed for everyone to see. For anyone who wanted it, so was my student ID. With all of our scores posted at the back of the classroom, it would be easy for any student to find my student ID at the top of the spreadsheet. While there are a lot of students who would love being recognized in front of their class for their performance, I was furious. Since I am non-confrontational, my teacher never knew that I had a problem.