|
Teacher Competitions
"Ultimately, the competition's about proving we're mature enough to hang out with adults and be treated as an equal."
Listen
to this Commentary!
By Chelsea Vargas
When we graduated from our small private high school a couple months ago, me and my friends all swore we'd never go back. So the other day, I was surprised when our conversation turned into a competition over who spends the most time with certain high school faculty members.
Ok, so that may seem a little strange. But at such a small school, friendships with teachers aren't all that uncommon, since the student-to-faculty ratio is something like seven to one, and individual attention is expected. One girl told us she'd be visiting our old bio teacher soon. He emailed her after graduation to tell her how much he'd loved having her in class and that he only gave her a hard time because he knew she could handle it. Now hold on, he'd given me a hard time and I didn't get any email saying I'd been a pleasure to have in class.
Our young and hilarious assistant dean and counselor are even more coveted in the "I hang out with teachers the most" competition. One girl's monthly meals with these guys has certainly given her an edge.
It's definitely not like those forbidden teacher-students love affairs you see on TV-it's all totally appropriate. But sometimes it seems like my friends do have little crushes. Because we have a really awesome female teacher too, but we don't spend much time talking about her.
But ultimately, the competition's about proving we're mature enough to hang out with adults and be treated as an equal, especially since as college freshmen, we'll be surrounded by adults. As the conversation continued and I got more and more desperate to find a teacher that I talked to more than anyone else, something struck me. Aren't we past these juvenile games? Then I remembered a certain spectacular English teacher who I talk to all the time. I had found the teacher that I talked to more than anyone else. I had finally won the competition I decided only seconds earlier wasn't worth competing in - and man did it feel good.
|
|
