School
(page 2)
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
We don't stop going to school when we graduate.
Underwater, I experience space with my body. I'll see a school of fish gathering and moving together and I'll exclaim, 'This is architecture.'
Qualities you need to get through medical school and residency: Discipline. Patience. Perseverance. A willingness to forgo sleep. A penchant for sadomasochism. Ability to weather crises of faith and self-confidence. Accept exhaustion as fact of life. Addiction to caffeine a definite plus. Unfailing optimism that the end is in sight.
My mom dressed me in silk to go to elementary school. In kindergarten, they sent me home because I couldn't do finger painting in my dress.
My marks were always bad, and I was a bad influence on other children, so they would explain to my mother that they could retain me only by being partial towards me, and so I should offer to leave the school myself. I would barely get 40-50% and was also extremely naughty.
My father is an amazing person. While he was a huge star, he never carried his stardom home and always remained simple and just our father at home. I have four siblings, and we were all very grounded. We lived a very simple life: would go in an auto rickshaw to school, played with normal boys.
Despite girls' sparkling resumes — including rates of college enrollment and high school grades that outstrip boys — sexism is a barrier that still leaves girls ambivalent about power. Opening doors has not amounted to ambition to lead for many of them, even those with options, networks, and resources.
It occurred to me in my junior year of high school. I got my first letter from a big college. I still have that letter to this day — a letter from Indiana.
To be at acting school, it was kind of the first time you felt the freedom to be as much of yourself as you wanted. People weren't going to judge you.
Growing up, I had a very busy social life. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something.
I've always been really ambitious, whatever I do. At school, I always wanted to be the best in the class — no, it wasn't enough to be the best in the class, I'd want to be the best in the country.
My education was paid for by the RAF Benevolent Fund, so a charity school, run like an orphanage, with uniforms and beatings. It was tough, but it got me to Cambridge — like being a chrysalis suddenly becoming a butterfly.
Most of the time I was in grammar school through high school, I was in some kind of rock n' roll band. I would say that at least 80 percent of my energy was involved with whatever band I was involved in.
I was a very good student. Procrastinating gives me anxiety, and getting a B really ticked me off. Sure, I didn't always want to do my homework, but I actually really liked school. As nerdy as it sounds, I love learning.
I got attention by being funny at school, pretending to be retarded, and jumping around with a deformed hand.
Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It's about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.
The funniest memory that I can recall about my school days has to be one incident that involved unfinished homework for numerous days. I didn't do any of my homework for days and days at a stretch, and kept stalling my teacher that I was extremely unwell and was under heavy medication.
I see the human in everyone and everything. No one is more important than anyone else; I still hang out with my high school friends.