The phase might be over, but if you are like me, sometimes, you let your heart wander to the years at secondary school and the folly of the morning assemblies. If the daily morning ritual was stressful for you, then this should dig out some memories you’ve buried deep in your subconscious:

The struggle with waking up early

Usually, class activities started at 8:30 or thereabouts, but because of some assembly, you had to be in school as early as 7:30. That meant you had to be up as early as possible, depending on where you live. What business does a teen have with waking up so early? Maybe they should have thought of that.

The hard-on the teachers had for catching latecomers

You’d been on a roll since you woke up, trying to beat all the odds so you could be in school before assembly starts, but you found a teacher already positioned at the gate by the time you arrived, on the mission to catch latecomers. It was almost as though this was the only thing they looked forward to from the moment they woke up. Like this was the only time they got some modicum of excitement. Ugh!

The praise and worship songs you had to sing

You did this all the time home, and because of morning assemblies, you had to do it at school too. All you wanted was to start class so the clock can start counting down to the moment you can go back home. You were hardly in the mood to sing, clap or dance for God.

The long lectures that followed

This was another proof that every bit of the assembly arrangement was a tiring affair. The songs you had to sing are tedious enough, the principal would still stand before the whole school in the manner of a preacher to kick off the day with lectures, admonitions, and a recap of the rules. It would have been a tad bearable if this didn’t take more than five minutes, but it rarely ever did.

The chance that you may be called out

Didn’t the school staff love to do this every chance they got? And they did this for the most mundane offences; like when you talked back to a teacher or the time your parents reported something you did at home. There were myriads of ways they could have handled it and reformed your young, impressionable mind, but they preferred to let you do a walk of shame. Now, look at the wonders that did for your social anxiety.