The Unknown One

Background: In New Zealand Secondary schools are rated in Deciles according to their economic status. Most schools that tend to be in the higher deciles are private schools. Decile ratings show which schools need the most funding from government to function. Therefore, lower decile schools expereince a limitation to opportunties in subject areas. This is because the budget a school receives to hire teachers is all dependant on the amount of students that attend school. Students that attend lower decile schools are more likely to drop out due to bullying, lack of motivation, and financial situation. Here's my experience of what it felt like to attend a Decile one school.

Ten minus nine equals one!

First is my middle name.

Number one represents fame and success,

It shows your popularity and progress.

Number one acknowledges those who thirst for success,

Who hungers for progress, and go through stress,

just to become the smallest number in the world one,

This number means honor, achievement, accomplishment,

Isn’t number one the coolest number in the world?

Wait…

I forgot what number one is described in my school and suburb,

It’s definitely not because your great, smart, or superb,

In fact it’s the complete opposite of what I’ve said and what you’ve heard.

The feeling of being at the bottom, low expectations, judged,

Never really getting a say because expectations are it’s obviously hard for them they are decile one,

You see once you place decile in front of one it becomes unpopular, unfamiliar and unknown,

One automatically means uneducated, unsuccessful, and embarrassment,

I always wondered why.

I thought being number one meant being on top,

That our honour will never drop,

But in this case I was wrong because once a decile is in front of one it is given no attention unless ten was behind the decile.

Why?

Are we as capable as those who attend Decile 10 schools?

Are we not capable of learning algebra, Shakespeare, and science in advance?

Are we supposed to travel from A to B when we can go from A to Z?

Are we supposed to be told who to be?

Killed dreams, lost faith, cannot be me?

I guess it’s just a consequence of being a decile one.

Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate is the school I attend,

It is a decile one school I cannot pretend,

Why are there so many stereotypes around decile one schools?

You see the title decile one gives people the right to choose my destiny,

The title decile one gives people the right to tell me who I’m supposed to be,

The title decile one gives people the right to make assumptions about me,

Now we are told that we are number one at starting trouble,

Number one in factory working as a career pathway,

Number one at wagging,

And number one for dropping out.

My hands are bound with chains of distress

My eyes are focused on people’s requests

My tongue tastes the bitterness of distrust

My nose picks up the scent of negativity and disgust

My ears long for hope and aspiration

My emotions seek motivation and inspiration.

Limited opportunities, limited occupational pathways, limited civil knowledge,

All due to the economical status we were put in Decile one.

The question is should we decile one schools let it define us?

No! Let us be heard, study hard, say what you have to say,

We can do it too!

In the end of the day we are all human, capable and equal,

Just shut out the negative voices, thoughts and people,

We are called decile ONE!

We reach the far horizons, carry the hillary heart and stand tall despite what we hear,

It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves, never fear,

For this is a school that aims to be the best,

Through church, homework, thick and thin, we accomplish every test.

You see no one was destined to fail,

And decile one schools were not made to be the tail,

All I know is if I don’t stand for something I’ll fall for anything.

Today ten minus nine equals Hillary is number one.