Thursday Three - Come see me in my office after the Blog

School's in:

1. What three teachers did you have in grade school or high school who had the greatest impact on you, either for good or bad?

Mr. S, 5th grade teacher, who helped me appreciate learning. I went to a school where religious subjects were given higher priority, and secular subjects were treated as a waste of time. Mr. S. helped us get around that attitude.

Mr. D., who taught Chemistry there for the one year I had him. Aside from being a friend of my grandfather's (who also taught chemistry), he's the reason I decided to go to an engineering school on the mistaken idea I could be an engineer. It's not his fault I couldn't handle calculus, but he did inspire me.

Mr. G., who taught algebra. The reason I remember any of it is because of him. He also showed me how a teacher handles difficult kids. We were acting up one day, and he simply said "you're responsible for this material, but I'm not teaching it. You want to misbehave, go ahead, but you're on your own as far as square roots are concerned." And he sat there and read for the entire class period, as we sat there quiet. Great work.

I had LEGIONS of teachers who were awful, too many to list.

2. Which teacher do you wish you could go back and apologize to for your terrible misbehavior?

There's only one in particular, and only for being an eager beaver; I sometimes wouldn't let him finish a sentence, but I learned from him. Other than that, some of the people I misbehaved for deserved every bit of it. I was mostly well behaved, so there's not a lot to apologize for.

3. What do you think is the best thing to happen to grade school since when you were there?

I don't have much association with grade school at the moment; I suspect the best thing to happen since I left is me leaving.