I've been plodding through some school textbooks on math and science; trying to supplement here and there with interesting applications and it occurred to me that school teachers are the Single Most Important influence in a student's life; who he / she becomes, how well he does in future.

Leaving aside parents, (how many have time anyway to be of help in high school) -- I would like to know if you believe that a teacher had a positive influence in your life. I don't seem to have had anything significant except when they corrected my homework and got a laugh out of it. Funny, how i remember them all.

I am a strong believer that EVERYTHING our brain takes in, especially in the formative years, has some potential impact on us and who we become. Not just our parents, but teachers, environment, friends, and media.

So I would say that where my teachers had a positive influence on me in the examples they were setting for me. My Sixth grade teacher always made a fuss about my propensity for German, which I enjoyed studying back then. Because it was such a rare choice, that did much to boost my confidence in my potential for learning. and my teacher Mrs. Fowler recommending me for gifted and talented testing. And in middle school, being recommended to skip grades,

and in high school, I had a home economics teacher who was instrumental in encouraging me to be involved in extracurricular activities, because of me being more of a bookworm.


I was blessed to have so many teachers who truly took interest in encouraging me and expressing their belief in my potential. I cant really list all the names, but they were blessings.

Impressive. This jogs my memory.
In 6th Grade, we were such a large class (35) back-benches escaped noticed. (The girls in the front benches). I don't recall how we managed till the bell rang for sports.

It was a missionary school, very large grounds, sports every last hour - the brothers played football (soccer) with us. what a relief. Explains why i prefer / do better outdoors than in office.

I had two different school environments as I was growing up.
Elementary and Jr schools were urban and my high school years were rural.
Up until 9th grade, I was rebellious and a troublemaker. Learning came easy but the teachers didn't do much but try to maintain order and provide the instruction for class requirements. The principal, who I saw quite a lot didn't like me.

When I moved to the country and changed schools it all changed.
Going to school broke the monotony of country farm life. I started to excel in school. My teachers started to encourage me. My grades went from "C" to "A" in a short time.

None of my teachers ever taught me life lessons, always coarse material.
My guidance councilor encouraged me to take the extra credit electives and double up on my required classes so I could graduate early and start college earlier than everyone else. I graduated after the first semester of my senior year with a 3.9 average.

I'm not saying my teachers didn't teach me anything about life. What I learned from them wasn't something they taught. I learned by watching how they reacted to different things while I was in their class. I think my leadership ability started by watching how my teachers interacted with the kids.

I excelled in math and science. I believe a lot of that is because my math and science teachers were really good at their jobs. Reading and comprehension was easy for me because I read a lot at home. Mainly in the evening after chores and right before bed.
By 11th grade, I was reading all my textbooks cover to cover just for something to do. I have really good reading memory. I did really well on tests. Homework was never a problem for me.

This all transferred to how I was accepted by class mates and teachers.
I was the class clown because I found the assignments too easy. Some teachers saw that and gave me harder tasks for extra credit to keep me focused on the work instead of disrupting the class. It wasn't because they cared about me, it was to keep me from disrupting class.

I once jumped out a window (1st floor class) ran around and knocked on the door without the teacher seeing me. The kids saw me. When she opened the door, there I was and the look on her face was priceless.
Yeah, I got in trouble but it was funny.

shocking man, shocking; not funny. My classmate used to do that - didn't hurt his knees.


Ms. Harmony's 6 grade story just set off some bells; meaning what i thought was insignificant is no longer so.

The family moved during my 7th grade so I transferred to a new school / new town. In school final i was barred from sports. For the wrong reason (according to me) - was a bit dense on social matters (sorry to disappoint - nothing to do with girls - refused to do something and the headmistress felt slighted).

When a fella is solid on sports - sure to get some medals in final year - then barred; i think this cycle sets into a Karmic Cycle