Moonbear said:
I was also fortunate to have excellent teachers throughout school. Only one stands out in my mind as an especially bad teacher...my 9th grade biology teacher. In the first progress report in the first quarter of the class, he recommended to my parents that I should drop the class because I just didn't have the aptitude for the subject
I've always wanted to track him down and pay a visit to tell him just how wrong he was. He was such a miserable teacher, and the entire class hated him. He just simply had a mean streak. If I didn't already have an interest in the subject before taking his class, that might have turned me off for good. I wonder how many other students were turned off biology by him.
I had a similar experience, but all through high school, except for maybe one or two teachers. All my other teachers thought I was worthless and useless. They even met with my mom personally to tell her that sending me to college/university would be a waste of money. My mother felt the same way, and I'm not happy about that either. I can't believe my mom actually thought the same. The real problem to me was probably because I had a bad group of friends and that I found the material very boring, in the sense that it was very slow at progressing. So, because of the group of friends I was with, I made a habit of not going to class and such.
I passed all my classes except for one mathematics class, but it wasn't necessary to have. And since I took advanced classes, I got accepted to a local college. That summer following my last days in high school was when my life changed. I started making new friends at work and such. All of them going away for school in the upcoming Fall season. They would ask me where I was going to go. When I answered that I was going to the local college, they showed disapointment. They told me I can do so much better and that they thought I was going to like some crazy school on a crazy scholarship because I seemed so bright. So, one day I spent the night at a friends place, and at like 3am he was talking to my other friend who was skill in high school about going to university. Telling him that he can do it, and all you need is a B+ average and you can go somewhere that's good.
I sat there listening. I was thinking... a B+? That's it!? A B+!? Sure, I could have found this out myself, but someone could have taken a minute with me and told me this. No teacher thought of talking to me about my bad habits and laziness. They just didn't seem to care whatsoever. Anyways, I'm sitting here listening to a student encouraging another student to do his best and telling him straight up what to do. Not once in my life have I ever seen a teacher do this, unless it was a teacher's "pet". I will truly never forget this day and night.
After that, I decided that I was going to go to college and show up to all my classes. When classes first started, we needed to take a math test to separate the "slower" students from the "faster" students. I had a few fellow classmates from high school writing the test with me. They all did fairly well in high school, but I guess chose to go to college. Anyways, I was the only one from us to go the advanced class. I was confused! I failed mathematics and never went to my classes to begin with, so how in the world can they score lower than I?! Anyways, life went on. I showed up to all my classes and did my work. Later, I started tutoring Accounting and Business Law. Finished the term with a high average, and then applied to a top business school.
Later, I got accepted in this school. In order to go there, I had to take Calculus. I was nervous about it because in high school they talked about how hard it was, and one the top students even dropped out of it. Nevertheless, I signed for a Calculus course that was independent study. They would send me the book to learn from, and then a few months later I would meet up with someone to write the exam. I figured this was best because going to class would take up so much time. As I was doing this class, I realized how amazing math was. The simple idea of having a maximum or a value for the tangent line was neat! Nevermind the area underneath a curve! (I got an A in the course.)
So, I started having doubts of whether or not business was for me, because of Calculus. The real turn around happened when I paid my first visit to the local library. I decided to do this because I liked watching science shows and such. Unfortunately, they never seem to play. I was growing really annoyed by this. By getting a book, you can watch a science "show" whenever you want.
I picked up "Asimov on Astronomy" by Isaac Asimov. That book changed my life in every way. I'll probably buy the book soon from the library, in exchange for a donation.
After that, I dropped the acceptance to the business school. Went to college one more year and applied for Physics and Mathematics. Later, dropping Physics because I hated numbers and labs.
Today, I am now a 3rd year mathematics major. Yes, I failed mathematics in high school. I'm a TA for a second year Linear Algebra course after being recommended by a professor.
I'm on the Dean's Honour List, and I love my subject to death. But the thing I'm truly grateful for is the professor I had last year, he helped show me the talent that I had. That in itself was very important for me. I owe lots to him too.
I'm doing great now, but the past does still haunt me. Habits are still hard to get over, but when I'm bored, I'm bored. Sometimes I also feel like the foundation of knowledge I'm building upon is weak. I need to learn that's it's fine to be weak in areas and such, and that I will get them later.
During all this time, I worked on average 34 hours a week. It was hell. I did this even during college when I tutored! I made two attempts to transfer to a better university, but money always became a problem. (I hope the chair doesn't hate me. ) Last year, I broke down after years of hard work. I couldn't handle it anymore, so I stopped working.
The TA job was my big break. It allowed me to continue on and not work many hours. Otherwise, I would soon have to start working many hours.
Plus, it is a job that I enjoy doing. So, I'm doing great now.
So, yeah. I know the feeling of just going back to my old high school (just down a few streets) and slapping them in the face. One little talk with me changed my life, and I know it could have. My grade 9-10 science noticed that I thoroughly enjoyed science and gave me Astronomy/Science magazines for me to read and enjoy. This came out of his own pocket. Unfortunately for me, he disapeared and I have not heard of him since Grade 10.
It gets even worse. In the past week or so, I learned of something new. When I was child, I was pulled out of class once in awhile to work on speech skills and things like that. My mom thought low me at that point because I was in this "special" class. My mom reminded me about this time a few weeks ago and asked if I remembered. I said yeah, but vaguely. Then she told me about that one day the teacher of the "special" class pulled her aside when I was in class, and said that I was gifted. (In a good way of course.
) To me that was a shock because my mom did nothing about this AT ALL! Decides to tell me this once I have achieved something for myself?! Why didn't she cultivate this?! I asked her this and she said that I was headed in health problems. Yeah, I was losing my ability to hear! Big freaking deal, that doesn't mean I'm going dumb!
This has explained so much of my past and current habits. First, when I was kid, I would ask many many many questions. Annoying, yes, but they weren't stupid questions. They were things like "what happened to the Dinosaurs?" and things of curiosity. I remember that one particularly, and you'll learn why. My mom answered that question by saying the Dinosaurs became all female species and then couldn't reproduce. I even remember that day in the car trying to "rationally" deduce this. I couldn't make any sense of it. I read all these things about dinosaurs, and not once this anything remotely close to this popped up. A decade or so after that day, I learned from my mom that she was very annoyed with my questions and that she would make up answers to shut me up. I didn't know what to think at that point, but a lot of false answers popped up in my mind. I carried this knowledge around thinking it was true. Slowly everything got corrected from this I learned as more plausible and/or reading books that told be otherwise.
This still has its presence today. I have the habit of not trusting anyone's knowledge. If someone tells me something, I normally sit there "shuffling" through my knowledge (in my head) and see if it's plausible/true before accepting it. I lost the trust in people because they have lied to me ever since I was little. I am getting over this, but it seems to happen without even being aware of it.
The second thing that this explains is why I was always bored. The best way to explain this was my Grade 9 mathematics class. I got bored in that class lots of times, or everyday.
I never did assignments, or even looked at them. But when tests came around, I always did among the top in the class. I was even accused of cheating by the teacher during a test! He didn't like the idea of a student not doing assignments and doing well on tests. He grew suspicious, obviously. I did well in Grade 9. I had a good average, but that diminished as I explained earlier. Anyways, this explained why I did well on that math college entrance test. The little time that I went to class was enough for me apparently.
There is just so much! I am disapointed in what my mom did, and what my teachers did. (My dad, well he's never around and I don't like him too.)
I'd say that my professor of last year was one the best things that has happened in a long time. It really did feel great hearing the things he said. I hope I don't let him down now.
