Shengliver’s Note: The biggest killer of a learner’s mind is boredom. A good educator will make it a top priority to kindle a learner’s imagination and to keep the fire ablaze.

 

In my class a boy can sit between two girls, and a girl between two boys. We can’t figure out why on earth the class director should have such seating arrangements in place. In most Chinese educators’ eyes, a boy seated between two girls or a girl between two boys normally cannot get good grades, because his or her attention is often diverted to the two classmates of the opposite sex.

Earlier this term, when our English teacher Shengliver noticed the unorthodox seating, he predicted that the student in the middle would be shining in the next exam. His rationale was that the student between two peers of the opposite sex was like a flower being watered by two gardeners on each side. It was, we thought, one of the inside jokes between our English teacher and us. What was to come about later on this term, however, proved our English teacher’s prediction right.

I failed in the first two monthlies (September and October) this term. The bad grades hurt me.

A girl, Miss Liu Ruolan, grabbed the first place of our class in the October monthly. Everybody knows that she was then seated between two boys. On one side was Mr Li; on the other Mr He. Earlier in September, Mr He was between Miss Liu Ruolan and Miss Liu Siyi. Then to our utter disbelief, Mr He came out first in that monthly.

When the exam results were out, we were amazed. We all owed Miss Liu’s enviable success and Mr He’s sudden upstart to the top to their two gardeners’ love and care. They must have watered their flower regularly.

Therefore, one morning, I went up to Miss Liu and pleaded, “Miss Liu, you have got so much water from your two gardeners. Could you please spare me some of your water so that I would get better grades next time?” Hearing my tease, Miss Liu grinned from ear to ear. Looking me straight in the eye, the girl prayed matter-of-factly, “OK, you shall make it next time, boy.” It was not long before we forgot all about the thing.

After we sat the third monthly, I did not feel I had done particularly well. When the results were released, everyone was incredulous. I earned the first place of our class, together with Mr Li Haocheng and Mr Jin Dongsheng. We three had got exactly the same total score. Everyone remembered me asking Miss Liu for watering. Watering is miraculous!

So, if you covet dazzling grades, boys and girls, diligence is far far from enough. You must secure a lucky seat, where you are nurtured like a prize flower day in day out.