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.

School Daze: The Rock Fight

Day 32

I hated my 7th grade at Killarney so much but things unfortunately did not get any better. My parents divorced and I moved to Richmond, Utah with my mom, we moved in with my grandparents in time for my 8th grade year at North Cache.

My 8th grade year was slightly better than my previous year at Killarney. I was picked on and bullied for much of my time here. And the worst of it came during gym time. Oh man I hated gym class.

My teacher had these fingers that were dislocated and broken from playing football but now they were hardened and unbending. He used to jab these fingers right in your chest when you did something stupid or wrong. He would line us all up to take roll and he would stop and ask each student. "Clean or dirty?" He was referring to our jock straps. You would have to pull out the strap so he could see that you were actually wearing a jock and not faking it. Only the stupid students would say "dirty". If you did he would jab those fingers right in your chest so hard it would leave a bruise. But he was not the worst of it. My class was full of all the buttholes that would torment and bully me. And gym class was just another excuse to bully me. Funny thing is that I could really tell some embarrassing stories of what went on in the gym locker room. I could name names but I think I would be too embarrassed to actually say what went on in there. Especially to the jock that thought he was really all that.

I didn't mind running around and playing games but I am not totally competitive. Especially competitive to wanna-be-jocks. They irritated me the most and I would throw games and act stupid just to piss them off. And I know I pissed one off specifically. He was much larger than me but half as smart. The best part is now he is totally fat. I would love to run into him someday and say, "Wow, you really got fat didn't you." I knew I would get picked on more for throwing basketball games but it was worth it so piss him off.


But that is not the story I want to tell. One day we had a substitute teacher named Mr. Forsgren. We met out on the running track made of rocks and I was out there waiting for the rest of the class to get out on the track. I was kicking some of the rocks and I wasn't looking where I was kicking. Some of the rocks hit him and he says "You wanna have a rock fight huh?" No I didn't, I didn't even know what a rock fight was! He picked up a ton of small rocks and chucked them at me. So the fight was on. I looked down and picked up a large rock, one that would be good for skipping and I threw it at him. KERPLOP! He hit the ground.

I didn't know that throwing bigger rocks in a rock fight was a no-no. The rock I threw cracked him right behind the ear and he was on the ground. I panicked. I killed the sub! One of my fellow classmates saw the whole thing and started to laugh. I thought I was dead. Mr. Forsgren got up and was majorly ticked off, he ran right after me. I took off thinking I would just keep running until I got home. But he was not running after me. He was running after the kid that was laughing at him. He tackled him swearing at him. "You think that was *BLEEP* funny?" He was on top of my classmate yelling.

I felt bad so I yelled at the teacher (I was keeping my distance) and told him I was the one that hit him. Maybe he thought Brent was the kid that threw the rock at him. Mr. Forsgren yelled back, "I know it wasn't *BLEEP* him! You got me, pure and simple. You *BLEEP* won!" He made Brent run laps all during gym. I hit Forsgren so hard with the rock that it knocked him out for a second. I could see the blood all over his neck and left shoulder. Surprisingly, he didn't get mad at me. I won the Rock Fight after all.

School Daze: Wrestling with Intimidation

Day 16

I loved elementary school but hated my junior high and middle dchool years but when I got into high school it became a little better. It was not like the good old days but I did have some fun times.

I didn't hate high school ALL the time but looking back it sure felt like I hated it at least half the time. But when it was good, it was great! I had some fantastic teachers that I owe and I made some fantastic friends too. But there were some altercations in high school that made it horrible.

I had a teacher at high school that I thought I got along with. He was my Weight Lifting Coach and that is when I liked him. He really helped my try my hardest in that class but it was his Economics class that I really had a hard time getting along with him.

He was rather intimidating in his class. He tried really hard to push his way onto people. At first I tolerated it because there was really nothing I could do about it. But the final straw came when he made one of the girls in class cry. I didn't even know her all that well but I was pretty mad.

I got smart with him one day and he kicked me out of class. I forgot how it all went down but I was talking to a friend of mine a little louder than I should have (even though I wanted him to overhear it) and he was pretty mad. I came to class the next day and everything seemed to be back to normal.

At the end of the semester he invited us to give him a review of the class. It was to be completely anonymous. Now to be honest, I liked the class as far as what he was teaching. But I didn't like him and the way he taught. So I took that opportunity to let him know. I had nothing to lose. Or at least I thought I didn't have anything to lose.

I handed it in and went my way. During my 4th grade class he comes in to talk with Mr. Churchill and I didn't think anything. Then Churchill calls me out of class and tells me to go with the other teacher. I looked at his hand and saw he was holding a couple of those teacher reviews. "Let's go take a walk Matt." he said and we walked to his classroom. He had a class in there and he dismissed them and told them to take the extra lunch. Then he took me into his office and sat me down. As he circled to his desk he showed me my paper and asked if it was mine. I should have lied but I was feeling cornered. I said that it was and then he threw it toward me as he sat down and said, "You want to change anything?"


I wonder if this had anything to do with me being snagged out of class.

I sat there and read my paper. I got a little nervous and laughed a bit at what I wrote. I was much nicer than I remembered until I got to the second page. After I finished I looked up and tossed the paper back and said, "Nope. I said all I wanted too." My brain was screaming at me to shut up but I didn't have anything to lose. What was he going to do? Beat me up? He looked at the paper and looked at me for what seemed forever. "Why do you think this way?" he asked. And we hammered it out. I told him that I thought it was awful to make that girl cry and that he shouldn't try to intimidate people. This was not weight lifting class, this was not wrestling, this was Economics. I was with him for about an hour but I think I must have earned his respect. He was totally nice to me after and even told me that he was proud that I stood up to him. And my final grade out of that class was a B+. Better than I thought I would get.

He didn't want to keep the paper so he gave it back to me. And after how many years, I still have it. I wonder what my old Coach is up to now?