Zara always topped her class from the first day of high school till senior year. Of course she had no choice. Mommy was a professor at the state University and Dad was a Barrister and Ph.D. holder at that.

It was a day like every other but with a difference as she was going to college for the first time. Dad as usual told her just before he ran off that morning for an 8:00 am appointment that he was learned and he wouldn’t condone failure in his home. Zara was all ears as mom talked about how she worked hard to become a professor too. As the driver was to drop her off she thought for a long time about how successful she’d be as a lawyer. She couldn’t wait to make mom and Dad proud, she wanted to be like dad so bad, or did she?

During her high school senior year, Dad made the choice for her because her grades added up perfectly in history and art courses, she was the child so she had to go with it and besides, she couldn’t think of any other thing to study in college.

…three years into college, Zara joined the school’s dance team and took the lead in several competitions around the country and in different states. It was a Tuesday afternoon sometime in April, the weather was cold and the down pour seemed endless. Dad was on lunch break and decide to grab coffee in the Café just across his chamber. He walked across the wet road from his office.

On getting his coffee, he looked up at the TV and saw his lovely daughter Zara as they were declared the winners of the country’s university annual dance competition. He was disappointed and so was his wife. That evening they got Zara on the phone and told her to face her studies and focus on getting her degree instead of dancing around. When she hesitated, Dad threatened to pull her out of college.

Zara thought she loved the course but suddenly on the third year she just discovered her passion was for dance. She was desperate about going to a dance school or taking dance classes but after her dad’s threat on Tuesday evening the road to destiny seemed gloomy as she began losing faith in herself. She decided to get her degree but not give up on her dreams. She began saving up and was able to attend weekend dance classes.

Years rolled by and she was called to bar. Finally certified and Dad was satisfied he got her a position in his chamber but after the first year she was sure that she wasn’t at the right place. With the money she had saved up from her handsome pay, she started a dance school and in 3 months Jason, told two friends who told two friends as her school became the most popular in the state and neighboring states. She was more successful than she was in her dad’s chamber, she grew and began employing people with similar passion. Dad didn’t have to be satisfied or happy that his lovely girl didn’t continue in the path he picked for her but she was happy with her success seeing her dreams come alive again after it seemed like the road to destiny was locked up with thorn and thistles all around.

Now, when she had the passion the people she loved and respected the most put her in a tight corner but she didn’t give up. Dad wasn’t ready to spend a dime as long as it wasn’t what he had in mind although what he had worth a mine. He forgot that most successful men in the world are not schooled with just books and that education goes beyond the thoughts society has for it. He didn’t care to think that the great laid down principles in the bible were established not by men who went to school but were in the eyes of society persons we would call illiterates.

Your success is not determined by the number of classrooms you’ve been in or thick diction you’ve chucked up your head. You didn’t get great grades and so what? Don't stand back and let the standards that a fellow man has set for you coated as school define you or go further to frustrate you. Remember you mustn’t be schooled to be educated but the passion you put into your passion would avail you. Classrooms aren’t meant for all.