Shane* was in grade five when she became my student. She was a smart and polite girl. Though she was obviously doing well in class, she was out-shadowed by her more accomplished and more popular elder brother, Luke*.
Sometime last year, Shane and her brother were enrolled to me for speech enhancement. As was customary, I asked their mother if there was any particular reason why she enrolled them. The mother, very excitedly, told me that Luke was about to join a competition in the near future and the speech enhancement was a preparation. I said that was very nice. When I asked her about Shane, she simply shrugged and said..
‘Don’t mind her much, focus on Luke…. I just enrolled her as Luke’s companion..’
I sincerely hoped she didn’t mean that. But as the program progressed, I noticed that the mother regularly asked about Luke’s performance but never about Shane. What pained mo more was that I knew Shane was working harder than Luke was. In fact, she was doing even better than her brother. She was diligent and responsible. She was polite and obedient. Why her mother could not see Shane’s efforts escaped me.
At the end of the program, I gave a final report on the children’s performances. Deliberately, I showed Shane’s evaluation first, but when I started talking, she cut me short and impatiently said that they had an appointment and couldn’t stay long. She requested for Luke’s performance evaluation and when I explained everything to her satisfaction, she took the papers, stuffed them in her purse and bid me goodbye. But before they got completely out of the office, Shane looked back and thanked me.
I know favoritism is a common thing, but it still hurts when you see it up close..
*not real names
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