A Tribute To Your Favorite High School Teacher

[Ivan Seeking]

Just thinking about this a bit and I wondered what other stories we may have. For me, it was my high school physics and computer science teacher - my senior year. Until then [and until we left the gang-bangers of SCal and moved to Northern California] I was only in class because I had been caught ditching school so many times I had exhausted all of my tricks. After having Jim as a teacher the course of my life was changed forever. He made me love physics and learning.

He taught for thirty some years and then went into politics for almost another twenty. Now in his 70s, with Parkinson’s, and a Colostomy, and more minor health issues than I can count, he still remains active in a number of public service associations to this day.

After Tsu he is my best lifelong friend. In addition to a visit every couple of years, we have talked on the telephone for about an hour a week for the last twenty six years.

 

[DarkAnt]

wow, that's pretty amazing Ivan. I'm still in high school and I have one year left. I'll give a tribute anyway. The teacher I'd like to give tribute to is my old woodshop teacher. This guy was in the navy for a while and had a dark sense of humor. One day someone cut their fingure on the ban saw because he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. There was blood all over the saw and my teacher just left it there for the next class to show them that they had to pay attention when working with the stuff. For some reason this teacher didn't hate me for arguing with him and he was one of the only teachers in the school to do so. In his class I found that for once in my life I actually took pride in something I made myself. I still have my treasure chest in my room holding my prized vanilla cokes. As far as I know he's still teaching out there.

 

[martane]

That's amazing! It's always incredible to hear about teachers who have such a profound impact on their students' lives. I had a similar experience with my high school English teacher. She was tough but fair, and she pushed me to think critically and creatively. I ended up majoring in English in college because of her. I also stayed in touch with her after graduation, and she even wrote me a recommendation letter for grad school. Teachers like Jim and my English teacher are true gems and I'm grateful for their influence on my life.