To my high school experience:
I'm going to be quite honest: I didn't love you. In fact, I didn't even like you most days. It's not because I didn't want to work hard or because I just didn't like school; I want to spend the rest of my life as a teacher, so clearly that's just not the case. Instead, it was the little things. Those odd moments that just don't sit right with you that have the ability to overpower the good. But now, I really need to take a step back and think about you as a whole: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I won't say that I didn't succeed in high school. I graduated in the top 10, got involved where I could, and had some great teachers. In fact, I think that the English teachers I had were a large part of the reason that I decided to major in English. Sure, I want to teach at the elementary level, but I'm cross-endorsing now because I genuinely enjoy English classes. I don't want to take away any of the credit that these teachers deserve. The large majority of my teachers were, in fact, great.
However, it was the few bad teachers I encountered that really left me feeling like I had a bad high school experience. The ones who played favorites, the ones who thought they could take advantage of me because I chose not to have an overbearing personality, and the ones that genuinely just seemed like they didn't care: those were the ones who ruined it for me. Those were the ones that made me feel like I didn't belong. It's crazy, really.
I was told by some teachers that I wasn't good enough, but then I was given opportunities out in the real world in the same fields they bashed me for trying to get involved with. I'm in no way trying to say that I'm perfect or that I was good enough at everything; I know that there's competition and that life just isn't fair sometimes. But being placed in an environment where you're told that you have to start from the bottom and work your way up, only to be knocked to the bottom by a teacher and his or her personality right when you've almost made it...that just doesn't seem right.
Through it all, though, I do have to thank those teachers who gave me hell. As I enter the field of education, I have great examples of exactly the kind of teacher that I don't want to be. Of course, the teachers that genuinely cared about their students can also be great role models as the type of educator I should aspire to be, but I really experienced both ends of the spectrum when I was a high school student.
So, High School...I guess what I have to say to you is: thank you. I may have hated you for four years and I may be happier than ever that I never have to return to those times, but I do think that I've become a stronger, better person because of you. You tried to knock me down so many times, but I'm still standing today and doing just fine. So, yes, I hated you, but I also must thank you.
Sincerely,
A Former Student
