“Are you down to Earth, Todd?”, his eyes looking piercingly at me trying to dive into some secrets that I was concealing.
I staggered to defend myself, “I would never do that at school, that’s not really my style.” The truth is I wasn’t lying. Not only did I not do drugs at school, I didn’t do them at all, I had barely even touched alcohol at the point except for being slipped a few cheeky beers after work. You see, I most likely had ADHD which we never diagnosed, in those days it wasn’t common. I had a tough time focusing on school or understanding its importance and chose the courses that looked to be the easiest path to graduation. It was a waste, to be honest, if I applied myself I could have gone on to university and paved a career for myself. But after moving out west from Welland, I always seemed to struggle to fit in and it provoked me to keep trying harder and harder. The course was TV Production and I got through it.
Why did I take another course with the same teacher the next year? Well photography actually seemed interesting and I enjoyed going out and taking pictures. But when it came time to go into the dark room and develop the pictures, I couldn’t get my picture to print. I looked for the teacher who was kindly servicing the high skilled students who he clearly favored. I should have gone to him to ask what I did wrong, but I felt that he should be the one checking the students. I gave up. I sat down and made jokes and waited for the class to finish. He had already pre-judged me as a stoner and got pissed off and kicked me out of class. To be clear I never had a single issue with any other teacher.
I ended up in a class that did a service for the school, I worked in the office. One time I had to take a note down to the teacher and he decided to ‘teach me a lesson’. “You are never going to amount to anything,” he chastised me with his halitosis laden breath. “Okay” I was non-confrontational. “Thanks for teaching me a vital life lesson, asshole,” I thought to myself.
Years later, I am a teacher. Of course I teach adult Japanese students, so the situation is different. However I have taught kids lessons and you get the gauntlet, from those whose parents forced them into it to those who loved the language. In the end I did take a vital lesson from him, but not the one that he wanted me to take from him. A teacher is not there for his own fulfillment or ego. They are there to lead the students and take their hand when they need it, even if they don’t want it. And even if they don’t want it, show them understanding and be ready for them. We are there to educate, not judge, and if we feel they may be on a destructive path, we need to communicate before leaping to conclusions. And we must never....ever... talk down to them, every human deserves respect even if you don’t always feel it. Yes, the lesson was derived from a negative influence, how not to be with students.
I may have never made millions and some may consider that I didn’t amount to anything. However I feel every student I see that has improved thanks to my help and every accomplishment my children achieve, I can see my influence. I think I am doing just fine Mr. M.
