What is the most important lesson you've learned from a teacher? by Qian

What is the most important lesson you've learned from a teacher? by Qian - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Flipping through my yearbook once again, I stopped by the page where my Calculus teacher had left his message. I have known him for all four years of my high school life starting from the first day of him teaching in my freshman year Honor Geometry class. The rumor began to spread among the students that he is the strictest teacher in math department and his class is the most difficult one to pass. Therefore as soon as many students read his name on their schedules they immediately found themselves sitting outside of the guidance's office waiting for their classes to be changed. Yet till this day I still wonder what if I told them that he is the best teacher you can ever have in this high school and that he is more than just a teacher who writes lesson plans and points at the formulas on the blackboard? What if one day they have the chance to read the following incidents that I am about to describe in which I have learned an important life lesson from him? Would they regret the choice they made...

The first year I had him I realized that high school is not as easy as I thought it would be. Loaded with homework and busy schedule I often found myself stressing about the next-day exams. I had never failed in his Geometry class and yet I had struggled more than I expected. Therefore, I had always thought that I did not fully explore my potential nor did I meet his expectation. Until senior year when I was helping him organizing the class binders he told me that I was a "stubborn" student. It was difficult for him to fail me. Every time when he proudly created a question that would take more than few steps to solve, I always correctly gave in the answer which had elicited his competitiveness of making the question more challenging next time. When I noticed his smile while informing me this shocking news, I felt proud of my accomplishments. At the same time I realized that sometimes people do not recognize their success, whether it is just passing a class or making others happy. They also fail to appreciate the effort that they put in to overcome the obstacles. While they are dreaming about higher achievements or bigger goals like me, they often forget that the difficulty they had just solved is also something that they should be proud of. From that seemingly unremarkable episode I have learned something other than math from my teacher. Something that makes part of the final lesson that he has taught me after all these years.

During the next few years, I had him for three more math classes, and gladly to say I had enjoyed every second of his class even the time when I failed his exams. In his class, I found myself taking up the challenges that I had never faced before, and with my passion for math I always overcame them with my greatest effort. However, I somehow always missed the perfect score of all his final and midterm exams by one point every year. I recalled the interesting response that I had received from him when I told him about this, "It means that you are not perfect! You still have room for improvement!" It these words that still echo in my ears today. Even the day that I had received my rejections from all the Ivy Leagues I had applied to, he told me that these rejections do not determine my intelligence. They cannot undermine my commitment to education.

After all these years of classes and after-school conversations with him, I have learned that a successful person does not have to be invincible but rather willing to take up challenges. He or she does not have to be perfect but willing to admit his or her flaws. Last but not least, a successful person does not have to come from an impressive background but must recognize his or her potential. Whenever I go I know that I would eventually become who I want to be because of my teacher's words. As the future of this world, I should not be afraid of what is lying ahead of me. This is what I have learned from my teacher.