r/Durban • u/sisandatheloner • Jul 29 '25
Academic stress
So due to an incident in 2020 affecting out lives we couldn't find a proper high school in Durban for me to go to. I had to settle for Clairwood Secondary and then in grade 9 I would find a proper one hopefully in Durban. The school was ok I guess but I couldn't do Afrikaans(which I've been doing my entire primary school years) but besides that I was one of the highest achievers and i genuinely enjoyed my experience there sadly I had to leave the next year because my mom found another school Umbilo Secondary. This school seemed like a better school but I always felt bad vibes about it. I got there hoping to not make friends but I made them anyway and somewhat enjoyed the year until I didn't and I was alone at break times and people were either bodyshaming me or picking on me for other reasons. My mom told me that she might get a new job where she will get paid more and we'll afford to get to a new school in the middle of 2023(grade 10) so I was excited that the year and i would go to a new better school. To the surprise of nobody that didn't end up happening like and I continued going to Umbilo and things just kept getting worse: my marks came l crashing down,I was picked on more and more and I got little to no support in these situations. I kept telling my.mom that I wanted to leave but due to many circumstances we couldn't and every term I would get new problems. Eventually after I finished writing I found a school that was willing to take grade 11 and it had so many disadvantages but i had no other choice considering nobody was really helping me find a better school. The next school year starts and i realized that I made the worst mistake picking the school that i picked. It was small and had so little learners,education was bad which was a slap to the face considering one of the main reasons I left Umbilo was because I wanted to improve my marks. We ended up merging with another school but somehow things got even worse,teachers kept leaving and so many other disasters happened that I even lost my focus. People were posting their reports and they were doing so well while I was doing horribly but better than some of my classmates. I searched high and low for a new school online but it's either they didn't respond,they didn't take matric or grade 11 late in the year,there was no space for new students etc. But I tried and tried with no help whatsoever making phone calls and sending emails with no luck. Eventually I found a school that was willing to take me and I needed to go there directly with documents and stuff. Sadly we didn't have money to travel there directly and by the time I did it was too late for me to register at that school. So now here I am stuck at this disastrous school sitting alone at break times and having no motivation to study whatsoever and wondering what will happen with my future to become a doctor when i don't even think i will qualify to go to med school. It's like the universe wants me to fail no matter what I do even though I have already been through a lot. I don't want to end up repeating grade 12. I would give up anything to find a proper,better school that has Afrikaans and since I have no social life I wouldn't have a problem taking up all my time to catch up on work from term 1 up until now but one can only dream of such a miracle. Sometimes I wonder what I ever did to deserve this💔
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u/Beautiful_Path6215 Jul 29 '25
Port natal does Afrikaans and might be close to you?
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u/sisandatheloner Jul 29 '25
Where exactly??
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u/Beautiful_Path6215 Jul 29 '25
They are in Glenwood. Dirk Uys street. Hope that helps.
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u/sisandatheloner Jul 29 '25
Thank you
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u/Beautiful_Path6215 Jul 29 '25
good luck- I know that it all seems very overwhelming but there are options no matter what circumstance. If the medical field is where you want to go, start looking at options now for backup plans so that you can prepared for all scenarios.
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u/ashtastiq Jul 29 '25
I have a contact that offers free science tuition for students such as yourself. He is based in durban and has a phd is stem. Dm me if you interested 🙏
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u/DonovanBanks Jul 29 '25
Sorry you’re having a rough time. It can be difficult to keep your head up.
As an older guy I just want to share something that may help you.
This time will pass. You have 2 years left and then school is done. It will feel like a few days when you look back.
Perhaps just try focus on taking it one day at a time. Maybe get a daily meditation to help prepare yourself each day. Or a mantra to help you when it gets difficult.
If your situation can’t change, you need to change the way you look at your situation.
Times are tough. Learning to get through them is what makes the difference between losers and winners.
Good luck. Don’t do drugs and stay in school etc etc