Teaching Life, Not Just English by Allyson

Teaching Life, Not Just English by Allyson - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

When I think about which teacher has done the best job of positively affecting my attitude toward education, I can’t help but think about my eleventh grade English teacher, Jeremy Kennedy. While many teachers and professors (from Kindergarten on up to my senior year of college) have motivated me to pursue a good education, Mr. Kennedy is definitely the one that I remember the most.

Jeremy Kennedy taught eleventh grade Advanced Placement English. Not only did I instantly love the curriculum, I instantly loved him. Greeting each student with a hug and a smile, he entered into class every day with an energetic, upbeat personality that seemed to get everyone immediately psyched to learn whatever he had to teach us that day. I remember thinking the first time I met him, this is the kind of teacher that you work hard for not because you want a good grade, but because you respect him enough to do so. Throughout my junior year, I would realize more and more that my gut feeling about him had been correct.

Mr. Kennedy not only got us psyched to learn about the English language, but he also got us psyched to learn about the world around us. We read books like In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Those books taught us to get out of our 3,000 member, 99% Caucasian town – teaching us to respect and love not only those who think differently than we do, but also those who look different from us. In Cold Blood actually changed my views on capital punishment forever. Yes, it is a teacher like this that truly influences a student’s ideas about education.

Honestly, when I look back, it was Mr. Kennedy who got me interested in Sociology, which I am currently studying. Sociology teaches about cultures around the world, great and small. Like Mr. Kennedy’s class, it forces you to get in tune with others who are not like you – and to respect their ideas, traditions, and language in ways that most people never think of. I feel like I would have been lost in some of my early college classes (like Principles of Sociology or Anthropology) had I not taken his class. I use the skills that he taught me nearly every day of my life.

Indeed, it is Jeremy Kennedy who most positively influenced my attitude about education. I only wish that every child in America and beyond had the opportunity to attend a class like his. I am sure that there are many teachers who are like him, but in my mind, nobody will ever compare to him. Mr. Kennedy is a life teacher, not just an English teacher.