Teachers are weird. Ever since kindergarten, they've kind of always been that unattainable deity figure. I've always looked up to them and admired them. I thought they were a force to be reckoned with. They were amazing. Superhuman even. Any adult is when you're a kid. Or they were to me anyways. So it's a bit shocking when you realize that they aren't so different after all.
I'm not about to say that I always listened to my teachers nor that any of my teachers' actions were mindblowing. It's not that, but as a kid, you're so impressionable. You'll imitate anyone, do anything they do. Heck, for the longest time, I actually DID want to become a teacher! (I trashed that idea because I hate talking in front of large groups of people. As a teacher... well you can see why that wouldn't work.) Even in high school, I still respected my teachers(as all people should be respected) but I also considered them above me. Far more intelligent than I could ever be. And then I got to grade 12.
I don't know what it is about grade 12 but I've noticed a change in the teachers. Maybe it's just me. It's not that they're stupid or anything. That's far from what I think. Perhaps teachers are simply more comfortable around the grade 12s. In the past few months, I've had joking threats from teachers, teachers making fun of themselves... They seem to let themselves go around us grade 12s. As much as teachers are supposed to set a good example, I've had some swear in front of me, had them swear at me(though she wasn't really that mad), gossip about other teachers, rant about other teachers; the type of things we teenagers do with each other. Heck, I've even noticed which teachers are friends with each other and where they eat lunch. It's not like I look for it and I'm sure they've been doing it for a while, but it's almost like they're normal people and as a kid who's become more aware of the world around her, well that's pretty startling.
At this point, I've begun to see teachers like friends. Not the type I'd hang out with and have a party with, but the type that I would share something personal with or simply discuss something we both are interested in. Teachers'll banter with me when they hadn't before. I now have a teasing relationship with most of my teachers despite being a fairly shy person. They're more chill, not just around me, but the majority of my grad class. They assume we'll take responsibility. If they didn't have that respect for me... well we probably wouldn't respect them as much either. Some of the worst teachers I've had are those that treat us like we're five year olds. I'm sure anyone can relate to that. There's a certain science teacher at our school, let's call her Mrs. X, who felt the need, for example, to explain a metaphor of a metaphor. One of my friends that happens to have this teacher had a large rant about it at lunch because Mrs. X spent a good amount of time explaining how a key goes into a lock. Because apparently grade 12 science students don't understand the concept... I forget what they were actually learning but it was biology. Biology has gone from her favourite course to her least favourite and she has no respect for Mrs. X.
I don't really know what I'm trying to say by this blog post. Maybe just an acknowledgement that minds change. You notice things as you grow older that you wouldn't have noticed before. Or maybe I simply was never an observant child. Yeah, that's probably it.
