School is hard enough with all the work that it requires of students. You will always have that one instructor who expects you to go above and beyond with every simple task that you do. Nonetheless, you persevere through it all because it’s the only way to stay afloat. After a while, you realize things become easier and almost seem rhetoric or out of habit. It is then that you realize that the tough teacher isn’t so tough at all. They shed their exterior snake skin and you see the compassionate human within, and the real lesson begins.
In my own personal experience, chemistry did not come easy to me. I had to stay after school many days with my friends trying to figure out the simple problems. In those incidents of hard work and dedication, our teacher gave us the wisdom to succeed, not only in chemistry, but in life. He told us that the secret to solving any problem is to first figure out what the problem is asking you. Don’t ever be fooled with the extra and/or unnecessary material that is brought forth to you. Next, use what you’re given to see if it helps and/or makes the problem easier. Finally, use your knowledge to figure out the problem.
One key fact is to not worry about anyone else. Everyone has their own style and shortcuts to figuring things out. In the end, we all conclude to the same answer, so why worry about how someone else got the answer? He taught us to make problems easier for ourselves and not to worry if it's identical to his or anyone else’s work. This was because at the end of the day, how you got to the end result was based off of your own personal preference. He told us that the real purpose of schoolwork was to create critical thinking in students for any and every situation; schools want to make you smart enough to overcome any problem in the real world, even if you have no idea how to solve that problem.
From that day forward, I admired him and thanked him for all the wisdom he taught us. The knowledge he bestowed on us that day can be used in any and every aspect of life. You take the problem by the hand and figure out how to solve it. With that attitude in mind, you can accomplish anything. In the end, everything that seemed impossible will become possible.
