High School Memories: Teachers

Today I, Ethan Stranger, will be reminiscing about a topic that I think everyone can relate to and that’s “Teachers”. During every school year, for those of us that were part of the US educational system, we’ve encountered teachers of every shape, size and type of personality. Some can be very joyful and understanding with their students while others can, very easily, be more bitter, dim or even downright cruel (heck, several of them might even be coaches).

When I remember the start of my High School years, a long time ago, I felt quite scared because I thought that the teachers over there would be more demanding and less flexible than the ones I was used to seeing back during both my Middle and Elementary years. I felt insecure about the changes that were happening in my life which triggered many emotions - fear, concern, happiness, confusion, frustration and even anger - which were difficult to identify and manage at the time, mainly because some of them were completely different from the other. 

After actually starting High School I quickly noticed that not all of my concerns were proving to be true! I found out that not all Teachers were as mean as I thought they’ll be. Although, I did experience some negative situations with some teachers, I don't want to ramble about negative things about the past (it doesn't generate any sort of benefit), but I would like to talk about all of those great teachers that I found along the way, they shared some traits in particular which made me feel comfortable and helped me grow as a person, some of them are:

 

- Being understanding of every person's differences.

- Being reasonable at all times.

- Kindness.

- Showed care and commitment to others.

- Show encouragement and affections to their students 

- Loyalty to their students.

- Strong sense of justice and equality.

As a person with Asperger's, I’m saying not all teachers are bad, some of them can even change your life for the better. However there are some (several of whom are often coaches) that need to have a better understanding when dealing with somebody who is “secretly different” from the rest of the other students. I would recommend these teachers to avoid making a scene, perhaps not to be harsh or take rash decisions about a person with autism or different conditions. For a student with Asperger’s deserves proper respect and care (as do we all), as they might be and feel normal, deep down, they’re still different (and there's nothing wrong with that), but they don’t wanna blurt it out to the entire class.

So remember (for a student with Asperger’s) if a teacher picks on you, stand up, speak up, don’t allow other people (of any size, age, etc) to take advantage of you just cause you’re different, plus there’ll always be good teachers that will try to give you words or wisdom for your future, like my High School English Teacher once said:

“The beautiful thing about life is - our plan for what we want and where we see ourselves is constantly changing. What's most important is to be open-minded, flexible, and most of all- RESILIENT! Go after what makes your heart sing! Keep up the exploration of life and try to stay in the present; we all want to know our purpose and where we will end up and what we will do with our lives, but what is the point of it all if we can't enjoy the wild ride that is right here and now? Make each day beautiful, knowing your purpose is to love and care for others (because you are so great at that), and the rest will fall into place, as it always does!” 

-Desi LeRoy 😊        

Do any of you have any memorable HS experience?

Until Next Time, Ethan Stranger signs off.