Learning from Three Teachers

I've had several teachers who have made a difference in my life. Each one inspired me in a different way. My fourth grade teacher inspired me to be a leader. I was the co-president of the environmental club I started with my next-door neighbor. We called it "Trashbusters." Seven years later my eleventh grade English-Honors teacher taught me to look at words and school in a different way. I began watching the words I used more carefully. Giving each word a different meaning in my writing. Also, she made me look at school through a teacher's perspective. I had never done that before. The lessons from both of those teachers would complement the teachings of the teacher who inspired me and directed me the most, my eleventh grade Advanced Placement United States History teacher, Mr. S.

I remember the first day of school that year. We all walked in to our hardest year of high school. This was the critical year that colleges looked at, or at least that's what we were told. While my fellow classmates and I were excited that we were half way there, we were all stressed with our SATs and other exams that colleges looked at. That first day, like all first days, we were all afraid to talk. We didn't know the teacher yet and he didn't know us. He gave us an introduction to the history of America. One of the first things he said was "Democracy is the least efficient form of government. Why?" No one responded so I decided to respond.

"Democracy is inefficient because you needed permission before anything could be done."

That's how my own journey to study the nature of American democracy started. Throughout the year Mr. S. gave American history a political spin. We looked at the decisiveness during the Constitutional Convention, the debates leading to the Civil War and the post-Civil War era. How did American politics affect Roosevelt's New Deal and World War II? I began to look at the political side of history instead of just looking at history.

In March of that year I received an application to apply for the Junior Statesmen of America Summer School at some of America's premier universities. I applied for the Foreign Policy session at Georgetown University. The application required a teacher recommendation from either an English or social studies teacher. I asked Mr. S. to write me a letter of recommendation. I was accepted into the program.

Over the summer I attended a three-week intensive course on the post-World War II United States foreign policy. What sort of high school student would choose to go to summer school? I would and it was the best summer I ever had. I had so much fun and enjoyed the program so much that I started a Junior State of America (JSA) chapter at my high school. I asked Mr. S. to be the teacher-advisor.

He agreed after some internal bickering with a fellow student. She wanted to start a Model Congress with Mr. S. as the advisor and I wanted him to be the advisor for JSA. I always remembered his lesson though, "leverage is everything in politics." I had the leverage. After he became the JSA advisor we commented on the leverage politics that I used. That year, my senior year, I also served as his intern for the new AP US History class. Once again, I was able to look at school through the teacher's perspective. Sometimes we talked after school ended about the new class and about my old class. We also talked about my future. Without Mr. S. I would not have had the desire to study politics. Without my fourth grade teacher my leadership potential would not have been fostered. Without my eleventh grade English teacher I would not want to study education. All three teachers influenced my decision to enter into politics and education.

--Louis Jim, American University