Respect

Being on the receiving end of a respectful experience can be a most uplifting event. A memorable moment during my schooling years was when a teacher showed me considerable respect. I was in my math class my junior year of high school. I was struggling with a problem on the board that my teacher had me do in front of the class. In order to save me some embarrassment my teacher got up and claimed that he had given me a faulty problem, and that it was his mistake. He then altered the problem to make it easier for me to solve.

This was such a small thing, and I really would not have been that embarrassed. Yet, the way he observed that I was struggling along with his quick reaction made me feel so much more comfortable. It was very clear that he really cared about making sure each and every student felt at ease in his classroom.


An even more memorable experience was when a teacher did not show me respect. I was in a global studies class my sophomore year of high school. It was a Friday afternoon in the spring and the class was very rowdy. My teacher had already given multiple requests for silence when he finally issued the "next person to talk is leaving" promise. Maybe thirty seconds later one of my classmates behind me started talking to his buddy. My teacher had finally had enough. Except he thought it was me. He started yelling and demanding I go to the office. I got upset and started defending myself. He got even more angry because I was arguing with him. I ended up just leaving and going to the office.

Thankfully after speaking with the assistant principle, and giving him my account of the event I was not punished. However, my global studies teacher never had the same attitude toward me.