Growing Up in the Shadow of a Model Student

Attending a small rural school where “everybody knows everybody” presents problems for the lackadaisical student unfortunate enough to follow a “model” student. My older sister was the darling of every teacher. She always did her homework, had beautiful penmanship, and followed all the rules. She never missed a spelling word until fourth grade when she forgot to cross the T in grandfather and didn’t dot the i in president. She was only called down for raising her hand too much and trying to give all the answers!

Needless to say, teachers held high expectations for me when I showed up in their classes three years later. “Oh, I had your sister in my class. She was the best student I ever had.” Not fully understanding the expectations that teacher held, I beamed with pride, thinking I was “teacher’s pet” by proxy. This would be good.

By day two in the first grade, I’d gotten over any initial shyness and been labeled a blabbermouth. I beamed with pride and couldn’t wait to share the good news with my parents. It didn’t take them long to straighten me out on that. Just a few days later, I learned Mrs. Crow didn’t approve of my putting my big yellow pencil up my nose. Not only that, she didn’t like me eating school paste. She was offended even after I pointed out it was my paste. It tasted delicious. She also was critical of my penchant for peeling my crayons and chewing the paper wrappers. The unfortunate teacher had difficulty understanding how the model student came from the same family as the one she was currently dealing with. I think the final insult was when I told her “My mother said she wouldn’t take a sick dog to Dr. Pugh. Mrs. Crow had the nerve to tell me I was “sassy, ” and let me know her father was a good doctor!”

I was offended at her attitude and reported back to Mother. Not surprisingly, Mother was horrifically embarrassed and cancelled out on her roommother duties at this Christmas Party Later that week.

I don’t think my brother suffered such high expectations when he entered the first grade three years behind me.

14 thoughts on “Growing Up in the Shadow of a Model Student”

  1. I hear you. I had three older siblings, and I very seldom got a teacher who hadn’t taught one or all of them before they taught me. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t beautiful and brilliant like my sister, or artistically talented like my brothers. It was such a drag always being compared to my superior siblings, and always being found wanting. I couldn’t wait to grow up and move some place far away, where no one knew anyone else in my family!

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  3. AS an only child I didn’t suffer from sibling issues….however, my son (9 years older than my daughter was a little devil;) and so my daughter who found it very easy to play ‘Good two shoes’ had to put up with all sorts of fall out. Now we can all laugh – I think:)

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  4. As I read I thought about when my sister Sue was at school, she had the same teacher who taught our sister Jeannie the year before, Jeannie and Sue are very different and the teacher was comparing Sue to Jeannie. Mum went to the school and demanded Sue be placed in a different class, she also told the teacher off for comparing the two.

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