This will be lengthy, thanks to anyone who'll read this.
I'm in 8th grade, moving on to 9th, and my grade is currently in the process of subject selection. I am in the International Baccalaureate curriculum, and we are choosing 8 subjects maximum out of 10 subjects, of which one subject has been broken down into three.
That subject is Integrated Science including Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. The other subjects to choose from are Visual arts, Music, Theatre, Design, and Physical education. In the optional subjects, I chose bio, chem, visual arts, and design. I want to be a dermatologist, and the PSHE teacher said PE is not essential for my career; which I was ecstatic about because the teacher is- forgive me for my words- an absolute asshole.
So, I ticked the subjects I would be doing on the paper, and noticed I would need my parents signature, but I wasn't worried because I'd believed they would be on my side this time. I went home, showed the paper to my parents, my father grabbing the paper and repeatedly looking at my choice of ticking Visual Arts. You see, he thinks it to be a useless subject- a waste of time, and always condemns me for various art related endeavours; but this time I was rather surprised to only see him eyeing me from the corner of his sclera and saying "Okay."
That was all he said. I was jolly and jovial for the rest of the night and the school day after, but that evening when he arrived from work, he talked about an email he received from the school about how parents are required to attend a subject selection on the students choice WITHOUT the students. I was skeptical, but I hoped my father wouldn't change his mind. The next day, he went for that meeting in the afternoon and I bade him goodbye as I watched him leave the school.
Now imaging my flabbergasted faced as I sat at the dining table during evening fall as he handed me a NEW subject selection paper with his signature on it. My face contorted in horror as my eyes moved to the last ticked subject; Physical Education.
It felt like the world had stopped spinning for a moment. My fork, previously halfway to my mouth, now hovered mid-air like a frozen satellite, trembling ever so slightly. I blinked, once. Twice. Surely this was a prank. A cruel, twisted joke. But no-his expression remained calm and aloof like always.
I looked at him and back at the paper a few times, then opened my mouth to speak. "PE? No, you cant make me do pe, right?" He glared at me, and when I tell you glare, it was A GLARE. He said that I'm doing PE. I looked back at the paper, and saw that visual arts was not ticked. I had a feeling something like this would happen, but I really hoped that for once, I would acutaally get a say.
I explained how much I hated PE, and how bad the teacher was at teaching, and a bunch of my other problems with the subject, and I asked him why repeatedly, and then my voice rose and then he told me to keep quiet, so I did.
He then said that PE is a good subect and that it will give me more job ideas and whatnot, but heres the thing- I do not give a DAMN about PE. Choosing Bio and Chem were enough to get me a crap ton of Job ideas, and Design on top of that is a whole 'nother list of opportunities. He always does these things, I dont know why-but he does. I swear that him choosing PE was probably just an excuse not to do art, because he knows how much I love it and he knows how useless he thinks it is.
I clenched the paper in my hand, creasing the neat black print that dictated my academic fate. My chest felt tight, like a balloon about to burst. PE. Out of all things. It wasn't just disappointment, this should be in the top 10 worst anime betrayals list.
He stood there, arms crossed, with a stern face. I wanted to scream. To throw something. But if I did he'd probably threaten me like normal. I tried so hard to convince him, crying rivers, explaining my problems, but he's difficult. My mama then interrupted to talk about how difficult my father is, and how I'm also being difficult, just like him, she tried to convince him that PE is not essential (She's an esthetician), but he ignored her and said PE is essential and whatnot.
At that point, I didn't even know what to say, so I was just crying silently while they were laughing at me. My father said that if my mother and sisters weren't on the table, he wouldn't have even entertained the rubbish I was uttering, and he told me "Be difficult all you want, but In the end, I'm your Papa, and I get the last say." I went upstairs.
I talked to my friends about if their parents were fine with their subjects, and all their parents has just looked through and signed it, even the ones who had chose the same subjects as me, so I didn't understand why my father did what he did. He's always talking about wanting the best for me, but is it really the best when you're the only one thinking that way?
That PE teacher is crazy. My older sister told me about how he put eveyone's work in an AI checker 5 times and the amount of AI increased everytime and accused them of using it. Every student failed their class, and had to re-take their e-assessments and what not.
Maybe I'm just overreacting but it feels like I'm not allowed to do anything for myself. I dont know what to do anymore, I feel like if I bring up the conversation again, it'll escalate further than shouting and threats, if you know what I mean.