Teacher Comparisons
The other day Link and Gleek were talking and comparing teachers. Gleek was saying that she likes her first grade teacher, but misses her kindergarten teacher. Link countered with the information that he hadn’t liked his first grade teacher at all. I found this information interesting because at the time Link was in first grade he told me repeatedly that he liked is teacher and Gleek spent a majority of Kindergarten butting heads with her teacher. I think that young children are hardwired to love those who have power over them. It is only later that they are able to look more objectively at the situation and decide whether the emotion was warranted. I suspect that this is a survival trait and explains why even severely abused children love their parents.
I don’t blame Link for disliking his first grade teacher. She repeatedly called him stubborn to his face and had a complete lack of understanding of his personality. We fixed her understanding and she stopped calling him stubborn, but he still remembers how she made him feel. And yet at the time he loved her and was convinced she could do no wrong. In the years since, the positive things the teacher did have faded away, leaving only the sharp memories.
For me it was my second grade teacher. I remember believing that she was beautiful and wonderful. But I also remember sitting in abject tears in front of the whole class, while she stood over me. She insisted that I tell her what I had used to scratch up the surface of my desk, and refused to listen when I tried to explain that I’d recently traded desks with a friend because I was short and the friend was tall. I also remember this teacher accusing me of sending love notes to boys, which showed a complete misunderstanding of who I was at that time. Now I think of her and she isn’t even pretty, let alone beautiful.
I wonder what Gleek will say of her Kindergarten teacher if I ask her again in a few years.
The good news is that this year’s teachers are amazing. I like them both. I think that the kids will walk away from this year loving their teachers and they will continue to think fondly on them even when the years go by. That will be like my first grade teacher, who I loved unquestioningly. I’m still glad every time I think of her even though I don’t remember her very well anymore.