Conversations about high school are few and far between on college campuses. However, when this topic comes up, and students dive back through the tribulations and treasures of block schedules, cafeterias, SATs, and detention, I often ask one question: “Who was your favorite teacher?” Most of the time, the answers are overwhelmingly in favor of one subject, one mode of thinking, though expressed in a variety of pedagogical ways: My high school English teacher.

What is it about these individuals that allows for the creation of an open, inviting, challenging, and memorable academic atmosphere?

Here is a list of my top seven hypotheses about why our high school English teachers in the United States are rock stars, mentors, and limelight-worthy topics at any university.

1. Prose, poetry, films, music, and drama allow for an exploration of the deep, dark, cavernous parts of who we are -- the parts that we don’t really talk about in AP chemistry or macroeconomics.

My British literature teacher was a stalwart on having students memorize and perform poems before the class, in anticipation of the upcoming “Poetry Out Loud” statewide contest. This project was initially not well received, because it entailed work -- actual work that could not be avoided or glazed over in a subjective analysis.

“Light! more light! The shadows deepen, And my life is ebbing low, Throw the windows widely open: Light! more light! before I go.” -- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

2. At the heart of the English classroom is conversation and identity.

Here your voice, your narrative, and your experience are paramount. The material for discussions includes stories of the past like "A Tale of Two Cities" or "Their Eyes Were Watching God." But these vehicles don’t stand alone. The best of the best of our teachers were able to help us weave together why these stories are still relevant in our lives today.

Both of these novels depict elements of love and sacrifice, themes that make you question how far you are willing to go for a person you love.

3. They LOVE what they teach, how they teach, and most importantly, who they teach.

I think of the "Dead Poets Society" in this instance. These teachers are warriors skilled in the art of kindling a passionate fire to burn within us, a fire that may not correlate with a passion for "The Divine Comedy," but instead, a fire that shines upon our own unique and eclectic "barbaric yawps." See for yourself:

What’s your loud cry or yell that you’re willing to spend hours on and lose sleep over?

4. Grades take a back seat to learning.

Calculus:

U.S. History:

Essay:

5. These teachers most likely majored in English.

A professor of public policy at Duke asked me if I thought Duke students took risks. I responded in the affirmative: “Of course.”

He looked me in the face and said something along the lines of “not quite.” He argued that students at Duke, along with students at Ivy League and Ivy-like institutions, have always done what has been expected of them.

In a society where higher education is growing to value majors that are linked with direct professions or lucrative careers like economics, public policy, business, engineering, pre-med, one risk that nearly every English major has to look in the face is the fact that when confronting an "outsider" to the non-normative, unsafe academic track is the question, “So what do you plan to do with that?”

I think the greatest reward is the fact that so many lives can and continue to be shaped through the commitment and compassion of educators who have been willing to focus not on their own economic success, but on the implementation of a drive and success into the heart of their students.

6. English teachers carry their quirks!

Whether it be an obsession with "Game of Thrones," birds, risqué cinema, or Chaucer, nearly every English will have that one area that they can always dig into, always revel in, and enter into a perpetual starry-eyed flow state.

7. The classroom is student-centered.

Think of a question, an objection, a fixation, or a fascination within a realm of reason in regard to the topic at hand, and an English teacher will be equipped to navigate the seas of your curiosity on the ferry of their adaptive and approachable pedagogy.

If you have the chance today, think about the teacher in high school that meant the most to you. Ask yourself why. And then let them know. You’re most likely one of the primary reasons these teachers have remained dedicated for so long: because of the success stories of students who they have grown to respect, inspire, and learn from too.