Who Needs Education

 In 1980 my family's life had taken a turn for the worse. My mam was struggling financially, so my Gran and Grandad decided to buy a house in Gorton where my family would live with my two cousins and my Uncle Edgar,who everyone called Eddie. nine members of my family moved into an enormous house with 6 bedrooms,an attic and a cellar - I was coming back home - yipeee!

I was so excited to live with other members of my extended family.I have even happier memories of my childhood years living there.we used to play football in the park,and they used o call us the Brazilians because we were good! At home,we would  play indoor games, chasing each other around our big house.It was even big enough to play a decent game of hide and seek! The area I lived in was a predominantly white working class area. That wasn't a problem, until we started to experience racism on a deep level. Not only was Racism bad in Gorton, it was bad at school. I  remember being called  derogatory names in the street and in the school playground. I spent the last year of primary school at a school called Old Hall Drive in Gorton. I had my struggles there especially in maths where my marks were  very low,but  I left relatively  happy and content. 

I was excited to be starting secondary school in September 1980. My secondary school  Spurley Hey High, was right next to Old Hall Drive School. My brother and  two cousins already attended the same school,so I didn't feel alone in a great big  new school. 

I noticed from a early age that even though I was proud of who I was, I was treated differently from other people by the teachers and other pupils because of the colour of my skin. I felt I got on with a lot of people in my school because I had a warm personality but felt sometimes I mixed with the wrong crowd - the kids who were getting into trouble for fighting with kids from other schools and turning up late for classes.. I experienced a lot of Racism. Other kids would torment me about the colour of my skin, which at times brought me to tears, but realised I had to stick up for myself a lot of the time, which could prove to be difficult.The calling made me angry and the bullying started to creep in,so sometimes I would end up in a fight and would be given detention.

I enjoyed outdoor pursuits and did this every year,going to the lake district, a national park north of Manchester, dotted with serene lakes, rugged mountains and pretty villages in the beautiful countryside of Cumbria. We stayed in youth hostels, doing activities like canoeing, mountain climbing, walking, and abseiling. I loved  outdoor pursuits: it was exciting and exhilarating, and I always felt an adrenaline rush. It was like  a school holiday, even though it was still part of my education at Spurley Hey High School. 

I also loved Athletics, I  was the best in my school at 200Metres,100Metres and high jump. I was the best in my school and was always set challenges to achieve. I used to compete with children from other schools in my area and was always competitive to be victorious. Daley Thompson, a famous Athlete was my hero.He won  the gold medal for the decathlon at the Olympic Games in both 1980 and 1984 and broke the world record for the event four times. He was a gentleman and a true winner. I looked up to him, because he was very competitive an @never give up' attitude with a humility that made him the successful person he was.

Education was always a struggle, I was so easily distracted in school,and I always ended up in trouble or had to stand outside the classroom door for misbehaving. Exams every year exams were difficult,with low marks for my efforts. As I grew older in school, I was put on a Alternative Curriculum program for kids who had learning difficulties. Around 100 kids were on the same program and because of this we used to get bullied and picked on a lot. Maybe these events made me more determined to succeed in life and reach the top against all odds and obstacles plus hurdles.

At such an early age I began to develop bad habits inside school like smoking cigarettes and smoking pot.My friends would sometimes bring the odd joint into school, and we smoked it on the school field at break and lunchtimes. I was intrigued by smoking and the buzz it gave me- that feeling of getting high.

 At home I enjoyed listening to music with Uncle Eddie in his bedroom.He had a collection Classic Albums like The Wall by Pink Floyd and The Best Of Hits from The Doors. In 1984 at the age of  15 I visited Glastonbury Rock Festival with school friends,and my Uncle Eddie went with us. That was an experience of a Lifetime! We had planned this for ages, knowing Glastonbury was one of the biggest t rock festivals in the UK.I was quite open about telling my parents where I was going, because the festival was about amazing musicians form all over the world coming together through love and peace.I had the opportunity to see bands like New Order, Ben.E King, Misty in Roots, The Bundhu Boys and so many more. It was like a drugs festival full of camaraderie and good cheer. I have never taken so many drugs in my life: acid tablets, dope, magic mushrooms - the list goes on, but it was one of the best times in my life.

The day Before we went to Glastonbury, a friend of mine at the time experienced a near to death experience with a Class A drug called 'speed' known as Amphetamine. He was so grateful we didn't let him sleep that night or he may not of woken up.He was so grateful we didn't let him sleep that night.

So now you can see where my life was heading and the direction I am going in. Welcome to the wild days ahead! Going out at the weekends was always fun, but now with my new habit of smoking cannabis, my life became a bit wilder. when you pick a new habit up, its funny how you notice that a lot of other people are doing the same thing as you, because they seem to stand out. I started smoking dope quite regularly getting high when I could and it made me laugh a lot. You could smell cannabis on a persons clothes, especially mine!

This must of had an effect on my concentration levels, not just at school but my social life as well. Drugs were so common when I was growing up, just like now in society. It was the 'in thing' to take drugs, people saw it as cool to chill out but remember Cannabis is a medicine but us men like to abuse drugs to get high experimenting all the time. My Grandparents always used to drink Cannabis in their drinks as a medicine to help with illnesses they picked up.They called it brain food.

Let me tell you that Alcohol and Cannabis don't mix well, not for me. The number of times I used to throw up on drink and drugs wasn't good for me.Certainly, lager combined with cannabis  is not a good cocktail at all.Being sick isn't a nice experience so I managed to stick to wine and whisky which I loved, especially Whisky. I could drink that till the cows come home. Was I an alcoholic? Well I know a few girls I used to go out with said I was. Who needs Education when you can drink and take drugs?