Teaching: The Ultimate Challenge by Austin

Teaching: The Ultimate Challenge by Austin - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

It is safe to say that I have never had the pleasure of being taught by a teacher of the same caliber as Mr. Jared Emmons: my Spanish 3, 4, and AP teacher. The man is far above competent, works with a relentless passion to improve, and never takes no for an answer. But above all, Señor Emmons is not just the Spanish teacher. He is el maestro (the teacher) el jefe (the boss) and el amigo (the friend). I have found it fascinating as to why Señor is so clearly the best teacher I have ever had: it is because of his dedication to get to know each one of his students, and to know them for who they are rather than what grade they have. It is through this that I have concluded that the best teachers, the most effective teachers, the teachers that you’ll come back to thank in 20 years, are not just the ones with a passion for their subject. They are the ones with a passion for their students.

However, as all relationships go, the teacher-student connection is by all means a two-way street. The best biology professor in North America will never be able to teach a 5-year-old child the scientific principles behind cell to cell communication through neuron transmitters—a 5-year-old would have very little interest along with a serious lack of intellectual capacity for such a feat. Teachers can be passionate, they can be hard-working, and they can be dedicated to the personal relationships they form with their students, but it all means nothing without an equal amount of energy coming from their audience: the students. Being far more inclined to history and government than towards math and science, (a modern sin, I know) I have never been able to fully engage in my STEM classes. My current Calculus teacher may be one of the best in the nation—but his toil means very little when students such as I take his class with very little intent to pursue the subject in the future. It is a sad yet inevitable truth of our society, but it is also one that makes our educational system so diverse. With honors and AP courses available with no obligations to take them, students can pick and choose the classes they want to take: and by choosing them, they are signaling their desire for the subject itself. It is for that reason that an AP course would be most desirable for any prospective teacher: they automatically receive the most qualified students and the students with the most interest in that subject.

Thus, if the roles were reversed, if I had just graduated from Butler University with a degree in teaching, and if I had been offered a job at Avon High School and could choose what class to teach, I would teach a grade-level English course. What? Not an AP US History, or AP Literature class? Correct, I would in fact teach a grade-level English course. Perhaps one of the most un-desirable subjects to teach, English is catastrophically underrated in our school systems today. Not every graduate will use Calculus, or Chemistry, or even History in their daily lives and careers. But every single graduate will almost certainly speak English every day, write or type English every day, and read English every day. A solid understanding and a firm command of the language are very necessary to thrive in American society. So yes, English is a crucial subject to teach, but why grade-level? It is of my opinion that teaching is one of the most honorable professions in existence. Willingly spending time with teenagers, toddlers, or terrible middle-schoolers is in itself worthy of recognition: to do it day after day with very little pay and no visible reward in the short run is even more respectable. As stated before, teaching an AP class would be border-line easy. Students passionate for the subject would be easier to teach; their inherent above-average intelligence would make it almost a cake walk. However, teaching a subject viewed as a joke, to kids labeled as “average,” would be the ultimate challenge. I would fight an uphill battle every day, trying desperately to get my students to understand the difference between your and you’re. It would be the most difficult, most strenuous, and quite frankly most undesirable feat a teacher could undertake: so naturally I would gladly accept it. I have never been shy of a challenge: hard work is the fuel that drives my essence every day. Teaching, to me, is not a profession of glory or of simplicity. It is a profession of passion, of dedication, and of perseverance. I would humbly accept the opportunity to teach students the grammar and complexity of our language. But in doing so, I would also proudly embrace the chance I would have to be a positive, life-changing influence in the students’ lives. As Señor Emmons does, I would be looking every day for opportunities to connect and to impact my students. Doing so would make my job more than just about the definition of an antecedent or an example of hyperbole. It would make my job about the students, their future, and their understanding of our world and of their roles within our society.