Story about how education helped two lads make a better life for themsselves
They Learnt To Be Smarter
By Paul McCann
Between playing football and boxing there was never enough hours in the day for Micky and Sticky who were considering leaving St Gabriels early to start work in the building game , They were offered good money to carry a hod and other labouring work .They were promised to end up with a Jack-Of-All-Trades license .
The principle at St Gabriels tried to tell the lads to continue their studies and get a degree but the boys were excited about getting money in their pockets .So off they went from school with dreams of becoming rich as Jacks-Of-All-Trades .In their first day on the building site they managed not to get into any fights and pushed barrows of mud along narrow planks of wood , went up ladders with a hod full of bricks and mucked in well with the gang on the site . Their were many things to be done working on the site at Silverstream . They felt that they were in with the right crowd and got on well with the tradesmen doing all of the things that needed to be done As the week went on the problem was the hard work got harder and both Micky and Sticky started to feel the aches and pains all over their bodies . They did their best but after a month they decided to go back and have a talk to the headmaster at St Gabes to see if they could return to school .
The headmaster was very understanding and told the lads they had learnt one of their biggest lessons in life . Then he reminded them that they really had to dtudy hard at school to get grades that would allow they to go to university . The lads said they would do their very best . Time went on and the lads studied hard , played football and did boxing ,needless to say they were poorer in the pocket but much happier in their lives . They had been best friends since going to Butler street school and even though they looked like two hard men they were actually more like two angels . Theyw ere at mass every Sunday and tried to learn to speak in Latin because someone had told them that Latin was the language of scholars . Micky and Sticky had set their sights on becoming a university student and they thought that if they spoke Latin they would be accepted better by the other students . When Sticky asked Micky if speaking Latin would be an asset Mickey replied ,
“ I don’t think it , I know it . If you want to be an academic and get better grades then we should know Latin , you never know Sticky the world could be our oyster .“
Sticky looked very excited and said .
“Lets go Micky to that university because I want to have that oyster “
They both studied hard and got well rewarded with top marks on their O level exams The headmaster at St Gabes was proud of their efforts and walked them through the process of time management and learning to survive in the University where they would soon be enrolled . Both the lads were very eager to get started at Uni and they felt much more confident knowing that they didn’t have to speak Latin when they got there . They were accepted by the Uni and were invited to the orientation day and what a surprise it was when they saw that the class had almost thirty students enrolled to do the same English and Mathematics course . Sticky looked at Micky and said
“Its better than pushing barrows of mud and carrying the hod all day Mickey .“
“It sure is Sticky . I’m chasing a different dream now and I have my eyes still fixed on that oyster . “
The classrooms at University were quieter that the classrooms at St Gabes and they were welcomed by most of the students who introduced themselves to the boys from Ardoyne who never had to explain who they were and why they were there .
Most of the teachers were very approachable and would often reach out to the students in a friendly way with any issue they might have .
One of the teachers seemed interested in Micky’s career path and asked what he intended to do at the end of his course . Micky explained about the oyster and how he wanted to be a headmaster just like the one who gave him a better chance at life
Sticky also had a desire to do and to teach which was the St Gabriels school motto, Both of the lads worked hard at their assignments and were achieving good results in all they did . The teachers were delighted with the efforts they made . After they graduated both of the lads pointed to the sky and said ,
“There’s a place somewhere for us , the sky’s the limit now . “
With pockets filled with dreams the two lads left for Australia and somehow they found that oyster . Like a dream come true they found a wife and had children and as they once said , they found that oyster . Sometimes stars do fall and there are people who grab them and put them in their pockets .
A Horatio Alger story of rags to riches. In this case, through University learning like I did to make my way and become a professor and university administrator. I had two years of Latin in high school and it helps me with language to this day.
I remember my fear in entering college being the first in my family to do so, but with my twin brother there to make it easier, especially to find friends. By the end of the first quarter, I discovered that I was excelling and eventually that got me into major universities for advanced study.
The story could have been longer and covered the paths that Mickey and Sticky traveled, like what their oyster really was.
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