In my educational career so far, I have encountered many events that have formed me into the thinker and student I am today. Some took place throughout my elementary school. Some took place during high school but out of all those events, however, two events stuck out to me the most. These are the events that turned me into the positive and optimistic thinker that I am today who has been able to overcome everything with strength and willpower.
The first event was my first actual interaction with a teacher back in first grade. Even though I started going to school in pre-k I never really had an interaction with a teacher until I was in first grade because I was a really shy kid. It was the 3rd day of school. It was a sunny day, but the breeze was cold. The wind felt really good and the surroundings smelt like burnt wood. School buses were dropping other kids off and the sounds of the traffic can be heard from miles away. With my backpack on my shoulder and my water bottle in my left hand, I kiss my mother goodbye and went off to another great day of school. As soon as we enter class our teacher gave us a short assignment. It was math class so we had to solve 3 maths problems. It was just division and multiplication so it was easy. I was one of the first kids to raise my hands as I was done with questions. I got up and walked to my teacher to show him my answer. And as soon as he saw as to how neat and well done the problems were he let out a big smile and said- “Kid, you have a bright future ahead of you:” I can still remember the joyous tone he said that statement in and how hopeful his face looked.
My teacher’s optimism changed my life forever. It was him who was able to light a fire in me which wanted me to do the best regardless of what I did and where I was in life. And that played down the foundation for the rest of my education career. The second story took place a little further in the future. That is right, high school. High school is really hard. Maintaining a life between school and social life can get messy and tiresome. And by this time, the fire lit by my first-grade teacher was almost gone. I was trying to maintain a life between my school and my social life, but I would be so tired that I would not be able to keep up with daily assignments. Although, one day it all changed.
I still vividly remember this day. I was a sophomore. It was a chill December morning. The weather was cold, but the sun was out bright and putting this warm coat on everyone’s face and body. As I left my house and made my way to the station, it was crowded, it felt like everyone was out to chase the best out of the day as everyone looked eager and excited. With the same expression on my face, I exited the train and made my way to my school. As I was walking I could hear birds chirping, people laughing as they were meeting up with their friends, and buses dropping everyone off. It smelt like wet wood that day as it did rain the day before, so the sidewalk was a little muddy. As I was walking I also met my friend who had the same class as me for the first period that day. As I met my friend and we started to talk about our day, we entered the building together and started to head for our classroom. As we entered the class, I saw there weren’t many students in the class, probably due to the rain the day before. Me and my friend saw this as an opportunity and decided to sit next to each other. The teacher announced in a really exciting voice that we have a math quiz tomorrow, which will account for 20% of our grade! For us, the news wasn’t that exciting. All the students, including my friend, turned their heads towards me. I was supposedly one of the best students in class and because our teacher said that we would use the current day to study for the quiz, they all wanted me to tutor them. Being the shy kid I was, I told them there’s no way I would do it as they might blame me for getting a bad grade. Eventually, they all started to request me so badly, I had to accept it.
As I started to tutor them, I realized maybe it’s not that bad. Maybe I could be a good tutor! Fortunately, my teacher noticed that too. At the end of the class, he told me to stay behind as he wanted to talk to me. I got scared as I thought he wanted to talk to me because I was helping out other kids but he said something completely different than what I imagined and it motivated me a lot. He said, “Keep up with this attitude, and one day you will become successful because people will remember you for your behavior.” That was similar to the statement that my first-grade teacher told me, and it lit that fire inside of me again to be the best and to be successful.
These two stories were the core moments of my educational career. I was grateful to have them as teachers and grateful that they were able to shape me into the thinker I am today. It’s very rare to have these experiences because of how the education system is built for students. You can’t blame the teachers either because they aren’t paid enough. Some teachers have to do 2 jobs to survive. So they are more focused on survival than they are on the students. It makes me feel sad the fact that other students weren’t able to have the same experience as I did because their teachers just simply didn’t care and it was all for a valid reason. The education department should also focus on teachers as much as they focus on students because without teachers, there won’t be any students. These experiences have enabled me to understand the true meaning of self-esteem and confidence. It also enabled me to understand the meaning of true bonding and I plan to make sure every other kid can experience what I have
