I was taught, as many children are, to respect their elders. I carried this perspective into my schooling. In junior high, I was all about getting straight A’s. I respected my teachers because I thought it was the right thing to. As I started high school, my grades dropped tragically. I lost all respect for my teachers; getting an education just wasn’t important to me anymore. I didn’t feel like getting good grades was going to get me anywhere in life, and besides having respect for your teachers classified you as a teacher’s pet.
During my transition from junior high to high school, as well as my transition from high school to college, I have noticed that the respect students have for teachers and professors has drastically declined over the generations. Towards the end of high school, I began to realize how important teachers really are and how helpful they are. Teachers are there to help the students. Teachers want to see all of their students succeed, which is why some teachers are such hard-asses. Challenges are the only way to improve; teachers understand this. It took me a long time to understand that for myself.
Now that I am in college, I realize what an education can do for me. If I want a decent job, I am going to need a college education. Many workplaces aren’t hiring anymore without experience, and in order to get experience I need to have an education. I can do anything if I am well educated. All it took for me to realize this was someone telling me I could be anything I wanted to be. All it takes is an education and ambition. I now have immense respect for all my professors because I understand that they want nothing more than to see me succeed, and without their help and knowledge, I would not receive an education that prepares me for success in the future. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this in eighth grade.
It is eighth grade. I am in my last hour class. Our teacher hands us big manila envelopes with our first and last names printed on the front. These are the envelopes that bring joy and fear into the faces of our parents, envelopes that hold our acceptance into high school. Report cards. We are told to wait until school gets out to open them. I eagerly take mine and stuff it in my backpack with many loose papers and heavy books. Other students rip theirs open regardless of what the teachers said. The last bell rings and I run out the door, down the cement steps, out to the parking lot where I wait semi-patiently for my mom to pick me up.
As she pulls in, my insides tingle with excitement. I just know she will be so proud of me. I just know that I will come home with straight A’s once again. A blue van crosses the street. I start to jump up and down. The blue van parks. A single hand comes out the driver’s side window and waves. I run over to the van, open the door, and sit in the passenger seat next to my mom. We both know. I pull out the envelope and open it. I read each letter out loud: A, A, A, A, A, A, A and A, no wait... B. B!?! I couldn’t believe it. Almost instantly, tears begin to flow from my face. They are never-ending. My mom tries to comfort me and let’s me know that a B is still very good. She is lying.
The bell rings for my first class. Freshman biology. Mrs. Grantham. High school sucks already, and it just started. I walk to class and my eyes fall on Lauren and Claire. My best friends. Maybe this won’t be so bad. We sit together. Class starts and so do the notes. Except the only notes I write are to Lauren and Claire. Mrs. Grantham quickly catches on, and I find myself on the opposite side of the room. No longer able to ignore my teacher because I now sit right next to her. While she isn’t looking, though, I throw balled up pieces of paper to my P.I.C.’s (partner’s in crime). For some reason, this is not okay either, and by the end of class I am sitting in the counselor’s office listening to her tell my mom I am not only a disruption to the entire class, but I am also disrespectful to my teacher and the next time something happens I will be suspended from class. Apparently telling the teacher to shut up and she is stupid is considered disrespectful.
