Teachers can do amazing things when you feel like you’ve lost your way. They can also pleasantly surprise you even when you think you know exactly how the world works. I think teachers are incredible because the good ones can fundamentally influence their students in the most wonderful ways. I’m designating the “good ones” apart from the rest because there are some seemingly superhuman teachers out there who truly care about their craft. They build special bonds with their students and they genuinely strive to achieve an atmosphere of understanding and acceptance. The most fascinating part is how easy they make it all look despite the fact that they’re consistently taking on a huge (and not always conventionally rewarding) responsibility. I’ve been fortunate to have quite a few amazing teachers throughout my life, and I know that I’ve grown up to be the person I am because of my experiences with them both in and out of the classroom. My favorite teachers have challenged me in ways I never could have anticipated and eventually became like close friends while I studied under them. I know that most people would probably find that whole notion pretty silly, but for a huge nerd like me it was a welcome break from the constant confusion I felt otherwise when I was younger.
High school was the worst in a lot of ways. Everyone says that, right? I don’t actually mean that I had the worst time of my life there (Arguments to that effect can be made for a few of my AP classes, though). The actual idea behind saying “High school was the worst, man!” reflects a sense of inadequacy all high school students feel in every aspect of life – from simple academia to friendship to romance. Don’t even get me started on knowing how to dress well and listening to the right music. A good friend of mine once told me that you only start really listening to music when you turn eighteen, or possibly when you go to college. It’s not so much the change of scenery as it is an awakening that seems to happen on the verge of adulthood. That awakening allows you to be yourself and not care what the world thinks. Everything before that moment feels like hell. I guess what I’m trying to say is that high school coincided with that (very mild) personal hell in which I found myself before I let it all go and started to live freely. “Personal hell” is an exaggeration, of course, but I had to commit to the metaphor. I didn’t take all those AP classes for nothing!
The teachers I had in high school helped me navigate that treacherous territory from age fourteen to age eighteen. They gave me purpose. They gave me more than enough reasons to get out of bed in the morning. Most importantly, they did everything they could to remind me that my life was just beginning. I had a wonderful AP Art Studio teacher who convinced me that my silly hobbies could bring me more fulfillment than I had ever imagined. My English teachers genuinely encouraged me to write and to have a creative voice. Sure, most classes were just about doing the assignments and preparing for any number of standardized tests, but there was a lot more going on for those of us who stuck around. Some teachers managed to get all the routine stuff done and still make the classroom their own. I was always floored by the ability of the most skilled instructors to leverage the aggression, anxiety, and expectations of dozens of students and also communicate knowledge in a unique way that really stuck. I feel like that core skill set can prepare you for just about anything life throws at you.
Patience is always what sets the greatest teachers apart, and I was lucky to find myself being instructed by some of the most patient teachers in the biz. I was cursed for a while because I had been the “smart kid” growing up. When I was twelve, I moved from Trinidad and Tobago to Texas with my family, and my know-it-all credits didn’t exactly transfer. I started at square one when I was in seventh grade, so any teacher that could make me feel right at home and completely competent between that year and the year I graduated high school really impressed me. It was all about the subtleties, and the acknowledgment of an agreement by which I would try my best and they would try their best as well. Cultivating relationships like that takes time, and every year teachers do it over. They start from square one more frequently than most, and they face what may be the toughest uphill climb of their careers with every new set of students. This is my feeling, anyway. I’ve never been a teacher in any capacity, and I can only draw from my personal experiences and the personalities of the people who taught me.
My AP European History teacher in high school was an amazing person. He was strong, committed, and endlessly joyful in the face of things that never ceased to challenge him both physically and psychologically. He never put his worries or concerns on anyone else, and he was an extremely giving human being. I stumbled into his classroom simply trying to accrue as many AP credits as possible – you know, when I thought those were the most important things in the world. In an interesting plot twist, my arrogance and compulsive attitude about school led me to meet someone who would make me rethink my attitude toward all of that as well as toward life itself. That little class and all the experiences I had while in it were more important than I realized at the time, and now that the man who taught it is no longer with us, I’m realizing how grateful I was to be a part of it all. Meeting just one person can change your outlook on so many things. I learned how to enjoy life and also how knowledge could open doors beyond simply earning grades and getting into college (or whatever the “next step” may be). There were a few classes I took in high school that will always stick with me, and this one will always be in the forefront of my mind because it broke all the rules and made me passionate about the way people learn. It showed me that going to class is just going to class unless you consciously choose to make something more of it. It also showed me that life is all about not cheating yourself of the real takeaways you get from all the papers and exams and assignments. When you understand that – and I mean really understand it – everything else becomes delightfully simple. There are people I met in college who still hadn’t come to that kind of understanding of how everything works. Maybe they did and it just wasn’t really something they could subscribe to because they still feel like they had a good bit of work ahead of them. I completely understand that, but over the last six or seven years I’ve needed to understand how life is structured around all the trivial stuff. It all started in high school with classes like AP European History. I tend to cling to that outlook on life even now, because it keeps me sane when things are uncertain. I genuinely feel like people who think like that are onto something, though.
Thanks for making me understand so many things, and thanks for creating a place where people could laugh and learn at the same time. This goes for all the amazing teachers I’ve had, but especially for you.
Originally posted on my old blog, Nick vs. the Blog · More from my writing archive