Teachers
If you asked me before I went to college, this wouldn’t even be in my top 10. I was a jerk as a younger kid, I had issues, but it didn’t mean I was allowed to treat teachers so poorly. I am really good at math, and as a younger student, I focused more on what teachers knew, not what they actually were doing.

I thought because I knew math very well, without effort, this meant I could say and do what I wanted. I would often fight with teachers when I was told I was wrong, I even once told a teacher, “how would you know I did it wrong when you have the answer in the book,” in front of the entire class.

High School
During my early high school years, and even some relatively late, I had a few teachers who took the extra time to understand me, but also who paid close attention to my cause of behavior, rather than my behavioral response.

I would always ask questions. I remember from kindergarten, “there is no such thing as a dumb question.” I still believe this today. I once asked my high school professor about religion, and how would I know which one was the right one in order to ensure my chances of not going to hell. “They are all spokes on a wheel, leading to the same point.”

I love that response so much, he let me know that I could believe what I want, but also just being a good person was enough. I had a professor late in my high school career tell me about how I did exceptionally well on my math test, that every student in the country takes. I landed above the 90 percentile, or that I performed better than 90% of the nation.

She pulled me to the side and said you did awesome here, but… This was a great lesson, I wish I remember whom she was, she was amazing. She said, “I would like you to get your english and history up.” I said why, I’m able to do something better than most people, and provides me the most benefit in life.

She said, but if you want to be well rounded, but also show people how intelligent you are, improve upon those scores. So I took it again, just me, and she wanted me to outperform my previous scores, specifically in english and history. I lifted those scores from roughly average, 45th percentile to 68th percentile. She challenged me, and I was extremely happy with the improvement.

College
In college, I had a mix of good and bad. The good outweighed the bad. Some teachers often felt they needed to tell students how to be adults, while others focused on helping you understand how to learn.

The teachers who focused on teaching how to learn let you know it was ok to fail, so long as you tried. The class score wasn’t based who knew the most, but how well you understood the material, and getting the right answer wasn’t always the main focus either.

I began to realize again once I had a science teacher at city college, who honestly, now that I think about it, I will look her up and find her and thank her. She would spend a lot of time trying to help me understand how to be a better student. I still struggled in school. The way most people learn isn’t quite helpful for me. I learn by doing, not by theoretical.

Show me how to do something once, I will learn it, make it a new habit it, perfect it and even sometimes improve it. The time I spent with her at CCSF caused me to understand what she, and most of my teachers were there for in the first place, to help me develop into what I wanted to be.

I even remember in my early school career, I was told I was a good writer, but I never stuck with it, I felt it was not cool enough, something a kid growing in the 80’s constantly had to struggle with, especially a light skinned one.

I learned later from my grandmother that even my middle school teachers, even though I drove them insane, they cared about me learning. They took special interest in me and understood my strengths, but also understood a lot of my strengths fed my weaknesses.

I would often finish fast and disrupt the class. Because I did so well and felt so highly about myself, I would often not listen, and be in my own world, or talk back. I wish things could be different, but I also don’t because it all led me here. I appreciate and love every teacher that helped when they felt they should stop, and also took special interest in wanting to help me become what I am now.

The way teachers are treated, and the way we currently view them, but also misuse their skills is a shame. I remember one of the midterms for California focused on creating project housing for teachers, instead of actually paying them better.

As a person who grew up in project housing, these state funded programs will only perpetuate the issues with teachers. They are not baby sitters, and they are what shape our country. I hope this issue is solved correctly before all the good teachers chose another career.

They put up with so much with so little compensation, and they provide the backbone for what we all have become, and what our children will become.

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