Most of us have been in school since Pre-K, having teachers teach and guide us since the age of 4. They taught us about basic rules of respect and how to share and so forth. We move onto grade school, then middle school, then high school, and even now as college students with professors. All along, teachers have been there to help pave your way onto the road of success. Obviously this means that educators have a huge impact on their students’ lives. Now, whether the impact is positive or negative, depends on the educator.

Throughout my time in school, especially in middle and high school, I have had many teachers try to keep me in a specific mold and not encourage me to reach for the stars. In freshman year, I took all honors level classes. I have a story about one class in particular. It was not my favorite class, but I didn’t completely hate that class either. Either way, I was doing well. November comes, and my parents attend parent-teacher conferences. After the 2 hour period, my parents came home upset, angry almost. They asked me about my history class, wondering why I was doing so poorly. What? They said they discussed my grades, and how my teacher said I wasn’t doing well and that I needed to be put into a lower level class. What? I told my parents that I got an A in the first quarter, a B+ in the second quarter, and an A on my midterm exam. I showed them my report card and everything. My parents were just as confused as I was. I learned that my teacher did not have my best interest in mind, so why should I?

Another class I took during high school was one of my most difficult courses ever. I really struggled with this class, I mean I asked other students for help, I watched Youtube tutorials on the topics we would cover in class, my mom even hired a paid tutor to help me once a week. Finally, I decided to go to my teacher for help. I asked a question and my teacher smiled and chuckled to herself. I felt so stupid, and I cried about it one morning as my dad was dropping me off at school. To this day, I don’t feel comfortable asking teachers/professors for help.

Now, let me think of much more positive interactions with teachers.

One of my favorite teachers was my 7th grade Language Arts teacher. She was one of the very few teachers that I felt was really invested into my future. She believed that I would be able to accomplish great things, even if I didn’t. I did well in her class also, but she is someone that always made me laugh and was just someone I could talk to for just about anything. I never felt dumb or less than normal in her class, even if there was something that I didn’t understand.

My senior year was my worst year. Physically, emotionally, and academically; it was just a bad time. While I was accepted with scholarships to almost every college I applied to, I was very close to being ineligible to graduate. I was close to failing 3 classes, when I could only afford to fail two in order to graduate that June. Those teachers were aware of how poorly I was doing and offered every possibility to help boost my grade. Because of them, I was able to graduate.

Teachers, you impact so many lives. Part of the reason why I chose the career path that I did was because I felt I wouldn’t be good at anything else. Math and science “wasn’t really my thing”. However, I’m in college considering adding computer science to my degree. To the teachers that positively influenced me, I say thank you. You were kind enough to mentor me and get me to where I needed to be and even beyond that. To the teachers that laughed and tried to get me to “lower my standards”, I thank you too. You helped me to understand that when people don’t believe in you, you’ve just got to go out in the world and do some great and unbelievable things.

And to the students who still feel like teachers are putting you down and don’t respect or care about you, I care and I know you’re gonna do great things. If you ever needed a sign to say, “forget what the teachers say, I can do this”, this is your sign.