New Jersey by Jillian

New Jersey by Jillian - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The most important lesson that was ever taught to me within my ten years of schooling, was never from an actual planned lesson. This theme of life was taught to an entire class when there was one bothersome student was causing a disruption, yet one temperate teacher knew just how to handle things. This scene was taken from my sophomore year Honors English class, where I sat all the way in the back, causing me to view the front dry erase board as if I were in the nosebleed seats at a concert; squinting my eyes and standing on my tippy toes to decipher what word was written next. Nonetheless, one day after another this egotistical student would walk into our English class, late may I add, munching on Frosted Flakes, and bantering with his friend who sat across the room from him, putting a halt to whatever necessary lesson our teacher was informing us about next.

Maybe it was the weather, or she lost some sleep the night before, or this churlish child had just been too much, but my dearest, and most loved English teacher finally broke. The greatest thing is, it was not in a way that most people "break" or have a melt down, or "snap." No, my teacher held her head high, and knew exactly how to handle the situation with such grace and sophistication, no one could have expected it. She called the boy out on his foolish antics and always being late, and definitely did not forget to leave out his incessant disruptions during each class.

As this scene in class was being pursued, I thought to myself how I would have handled this situation if I were the teacher and had such an ignorant child to handle like him. I pictured in my mind smoke coming out of my ears, desks being thrown, and the vice principal coming in to break up the fist fight. From seeing how my English teacher managed the situation, I realized that getting that crazy and upset over a student misbehaving would have only ignited them to act worse, because people like having an audience and getting them to laugh or cheer them on. Certain individuals crave the attention so much, they don't mind being rude and disrespectful. The optimum way to usurp them would be showing them who's indeed the one with power and intelligence. No, not in a "getting even" kind of way, but with sarcasm and phenomenon of reality. Telling them how disruptive they are being, and ultimately having them come to terms with the fact that he's the only one who is laughing at his own jokes due to that fact that others are truly trying to learn. I can safely say that this lesson was not in the plan book, but will be used far longer in my life than the importance of Macbeth in American literature.