School Daze: Roll Call

Day 88

As you might have guessed it, authority and I have never really gotten along. Especially when the one in authority really gets his jollies by pushing people around. For the most part I got along with my teachers throughout my schooling but there were a few teachers that I did not see eye to eye with.

I admit it, I was never good at math, especially algebra. I struggled to learn the concepts and it was generally a hard subject. My teachers were no help either. I only had one good math teacher while I was in high school. But one teacher in particular I absolutely had problems with. Unfortunately I had this guy twice and the second time around was horrible.


Because I struggled with learning the concepts I didn't do that great on my tests, quizzes and homework. At first he tried to help but when I was not picking up on it, he decided that ridicule would be the best way to motivate me. He would pick on my on purpose during class time to humiliate me. I don't know if that was his true intent but at the time it sure seemed that way.

During my second class with me I decided that I have had enough. Every day at the beginning of class he did this annoying tradition. He would announce that he was going to call roll and then he would say "Here Roll!" for a cheap laugh. Now it may have been funny the first time but day in day out hearing him say this grated my nerves. So one day my friend Forrest and I decided it was time for some payback. When he made his little pun, Forrest and I laughed as loud as we could and then I tipped my desk over pretending to be laughing so hard.

He was not amused. Forrest and I were amused as were some of our fellow classmates but our teacher was not amused. He promptly kicked us out. He slammed the door behind us and we high-fived each other and laughed not knowing he was right behind us. And boy did he let us have it. When he was done I said, "Respect? It goes both ways. And have a nice day!" We left the school and treated us to some donuts. Surprisingly he was much nicer to me the next day. I found out a few years after I graduated that he lost his teaching license.