Chris Packham: 'I went from getting Cs and Ds to almost straight As' | Get Into Teaching
From the time I could crawl, I was obsessed with nature â€" observing, collecting, preserving and reading about it. My favourite animals were worms, bugs, birds and bats. Neither of my parents were into nature â€" Dad was an engineer and Mum was a housewife â€" but they encouraged me by taking me to the zoo and getting books for me. Dad especially instilled in me a love of knowledge and learning.
I was quite a solitary kid and introverted at school. I was always off exploring and getting dirty. I was an average student and my reports were pretty poor. I was also easily distracted. I always felt as if I was a bit on the outside, looking in at the other kids. I didn’t interact much, but this was long before I was diagnosed with Asperger’s.
But I would come alive on show-and-tell days, when I would bring in my latest bug or animal collection â€" I’d find it fascinating but most of the other kids would be grossed out. By the time I got to secondary school in Southampton, I was getting straight As in biology, but Es in French. I had it in me to succeed, but no one had really channelled my interests properly â€" until I met my new biology teacher.
He changed my life. He was young, enthusiastic and we shared many of the same interests. He told me that if I wanted to make a career out of studying animals, I’d have to up my grades across the board. From that moment on, I stopped coasting and knuckled down to study. I went from getting lots of Cs and Ds to almost straight As. I ended up leaving that school with more O- and A-levels than anyone else.
What he did, which was very important, was to get me to analyse, rather than just observe, so he had me keeping diaries and mapping out locations of birds’ nests and tracking patterns. I soaked up everything I could from him. He gave me scientific books that became my prized possessions. I’m still in contact with him over 40 years later.
When I was 16, my next biology teacher took over from where the previous left off. He supported my individuality. I was massively into punk rock with my blonde spiky hair and leathers â€" I didn’t fit the bill of a model student. But he stood up for me and fended off the more traditional teachers. He was enormously supportive and did not judge me by the way I looked or the attitudes I expressed.
I owe a tremendous debt to my teachers. The first put me on the right path and the second kept me on it. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have without these inspiring and motivational teachers.
Chris Packham’s new book, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, is out now.
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