Yesterday’s post prompt on “The Daily Post at WordPress.com” was:
Describe the worst teacher you ever had.
My response:
I can honestly say that I can’t recall a “worst” teacher in my academic career – though I guess this post really hinges on how you define “worst.” There must be some who meet that description or handle – I guess I must have been lucky. The truth is, I had some great teachers.
What I can share is an interesting story about a professor I had in college. One who was tough, but good. I don’t recall the professor’s name, but it was a History course…
[night one – everyone files into the auditorium-style lecture hall and finds their seat]
At the scheduled time for the class, the professor promptly entered the room and wrote his name on the board.
[the classroom became silent]
The professor gave no introduction or anecdotal story about himself. He did not socialize nor offer any information about the course itself.
He simply proceeded to teach:
He described cold and treacherous environments. The difficulty of surviving in frigid temperatures…
He shared about the nagging fear of letting one’s family down and being tagged a failure if the hunt was unsuccessful…
He described the benefits of community in tough circumstances while, at the same time, having the ability to seek and enjoy solitude…
He talked about being uniquely capable of adapting to ever-changing and unpredictable circumstances…
He lauded the skill of balancing continual improvement and innovation with not sacrificing or dishonoring heritage and tradition…
…for close to 58 of the 60-minute session, he taught about the history and life of the Inuit peoples.
Then, he proceeded to impart to those of us assembled that, just as the Inuit peoples struggle to live, adapt, and survive, we would do much the same this semester in his course.
[cue the crickets]
I don’t recall his specific words, but I think he then said, “Enjoy your week – it will be one of the last ‘easy’ ones you have for a while” and simply turned and began gathering his things.
Needless to say, there was a collective gulp in the room and silent rustling as people gathered their belongings and scampered out of the room.
I made it through the semester and passed the course, though I’m positive I didn’t get an A. It was a tough course and he was a challenging and knowledgeable professor. I guess it’s because of both those things that this is still a memorable part of my college experience.
How about you: Ever had a “worst” teacher?
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