Over the years of my time in school I have had both good teachers and bad teachers. I have had teachers that have encouraged me to be not only a better student but a better person. I have also had teachers who could care less about their students. Teachers are one of the core influences on children and young adults growing up and whether or not they encourage students or discourage students can make a lasting impact.
I remember a time – I want to say around third grade – in elementary school where I had a teacher that I actually really liked, but in the end would not really listen to students when they had concerns. I was sitting next to another student who argued with me every day and we got into some serious arguments. I approached the teacher one day and asked if he would move me to another seat to avoid conflict between me and the other student. He said okay, and that he would, but I was never moved. I was correct in my assumption that there would be more conflict between us, and we got into another argument which landed us both in the principal’s office. I know for a fact that none of this would have happened if this teacher had been more understanding and had listened to me. He was great at teaching concepts of math and other subjects, but in the end, I never felt supported when it came to this conflict. It was seen as unimportant, and a waste of time and it seriously affected my mental wellbeing, especially with me being seriously bullied during this time in my life.
I had another teacher in sixth grade for accelerated math when I moved to Grants. I was really struggling with moving to a new school, and my grade in math ended up being a D. I had never gotten a grade lower than a B before then. I remember one time I raised my hand during this class and asked the teacher if she could slow down because I wasn’t completely understanding the concept. She turned and told me “I’m just trying to get through the book.” Instead of assisting me when I was struggling, she shut me down and moved on. These types of teachers can make or break students, these types of teachers are why students feel so worthless when they can’t understand a concept or are getting a failing grade. Instead of encouraging and assisting these students they push them down.
Thankfully I had better teachers in Middle School and High School, teachers that would genuinely encourage me to work harder and to grow. Teachers that genuinely care about their students and their wellbeing. Every time that I felt like I wasn’t good enough, or my work wasn’t up to par, my teachers would work with me and although they gave some criticism sometimes it never felt like they were putting me down like some of the bad teachers that I have had. Teachers need to care about their students, they need to care about their success. They need to encourage them and to make these students their primary focus.
I have had teachers that only care about “getting through the book” and these teachers do not care about students, they could care less if a student is successful or not. Many of them might say, ‘students just don’t pay attention’ but if they only took five minutes to support their students, if they took five minutes to ask students how they are doing, if they took five minutes to genuinely care, they would see these students flourish. Without the teachers that supported me and encouraged me I would not be where I am today, I would not have graduated in the top ten of my class, and I don’t even know if I would have made it through school.
Teachers are extremely important to children and young adults, but if teachers don’t care about their students, no one will be successful, they won’t push themselves to be not only better students but also better human beings.