5 reasons why you should give up trying to impress that one teacher
Have you ever had that one teacher who no matter what you did could care less about what you had to say? Well, in my lifetime, I’ve been lucky enough to only ever encounter one or two of these teachers. Unfortunately, I have one of them right now for one of my classes, and it’s turning out to be more trouble than it’s worth. For some reason, these teachers are not easy to please, and they are determined to have things done their way. For me, someone who has always had a way of doing things ingrained into my writing, trying to write the way she wants me to has been a struggle. So here are 5 reasons why we should all give up trying to impress these kinds of teachers:
- It’s a complete waste of time.
- They don’t care so why should you care?
- You shouldn’t care what one teacher thinks of you.
- The Generation gap.
- You are better than this.
Even if you did try your best to say what they want or write the way they want, you are wasting so much valuable time. This is time you could be using to do other things, things that actually will actually pan out in the end. Because even if you try your best there is no guarantee that these teachers will even appreciate your efforts.
On a scale from 1 to 10 of this teacher's day to day worries you are a glorified -2 my friend. Even if you try to go to them after school and spend large amounts of time consulting with them, at the end of the day it's only you whose completely stressing out over it. That teacher is going to go home, and completely forget about you and your problems. That’s not to say they won’t meet with you and attempt to help you figure it all out. But I have found that these teachers are intentionally vague and not very helpful at all when it comes to these meetings.
If you are one of those super overachievers who grew up with every teacher praising you for this or that; then the struggle couldn’t be more real for you right now. I know what it's like to wonder why is it this one teacher, for no apparent reason, hates your writing. Have you ever considered that maybe the opinion of one teacher shouldn’t even concern you? The way I think of it the odds are still in your favor that this one teacher will be the only one of its kind.
Millennial’s love to be praised, but you have to remember that most of your teachers will be members of Generation X. And while our generation may love a good pat on the head every now and then, theirs will be mostly immune. Because their parents the, Baby Boomers, would have made them work for every praise they got, if they ever even got any. So if you’re at the end of your rope with that one teacher just remember we are all a product of our upbringing.
I know this is going to sound really hypocritical coming from someone who is currently trying to battle her own impossible teacher, but you are better than this. For the most part, there will be those teachers who hand out A’s like candy bars, but you should appreciate the kind of teachers who value A’s enough to only hand them out to the select few. And while that may never be you, take comfort in knowing that there are more teachers out there handing them out like candy bars than not. So either way, you win in the long run.
