I guess I tend to say this a lot now days; however I just can’t seem to find another way of saying what I feel. Now, I don’t want to turn this into some melodrama about high school being completely terrible. Neither do I want to lie and say that high school was amazing and I have an undying wish to become 15 again and take quizzes on the 50 states and their capitals. I’m going to talk about teachers, the ones in the movie and how they relate to an extent to the ones in Nicaragua Christian Academy.
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| The man in the middle....thats my school director,. |
In Botchan we see how high school students treat their professors, whether with respect or complete impertinence. You have porcupine, with his unchanging expression and his uncanny ability to have is arms crossed for days. Students love the guy; they respect him and treat him fairly. The students go so far as to applauding him when he walks into the classroom all beaten up. Botchan, on the other hand, gets mocked for eating tempura and swimming while in the public baths (who does that?). The main difference between the two is the level of respect they receive and give off. You can only be respected if you respect people. How many times have I said respect in the last paragraph?
Anyway, in Nicaragua Christian Academy we had pretty much the same thing. We had our porcupines and we had out Botchans, and I’m guessing that many of you guys did too. For example, there was Mr. Jason Liechty, our Botchan. We didn’t stalk him though. Now that I think about it, I feel bad for him; we were immaturely rude and cruel to him. But I respect the guy now; he dealt with us and gave us a reality check close to the end of 8th grade. You see, after the whole episode where we made him cry and storm off the class, he apologized. He actually apologized to us for calling us shoveling crap and yelling, we just sat there, awestruck by the attitude he took. Nevertheless, we still teased him but it was more of a nice and easy and respectful kind of tease.
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| David Russell: Social Science |
Then we had our porcupines…we had 2: Joel Kleinsasser and David Russell. Back at NCA the simple mention of their names calls for respect and admiration. The same way that thinking of puppies make you naturally go aww, or how when you see a tall man in a suit you’re intimidated if not outright embarrassed by the fact that your shirt has a stain. But I digress…..
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| Joel Kleinsasser: Science |
Those two teachers were passion, charisma and humor…if they could somehow merge into one entity they would probably de-throne the Pope. They treated us with the professionalism that an educator naturally does but they also had a sense of friendliness that engaged you, whether inside or outside the classroom. They were both interested in getting to know us and becoming our friends. Also, you have to give merit to anyone who can make chemistry and U.S history something to look forward to every day.
Botchan was an interesting movie, it wasn’t fantastic but neither was it terrible. It made me thing of high school and the many experiences I shared with my friends back at home. I guess this is what they call being homesick…
A little thank you.
| "O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; | |
| The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won" Oh Captain My Captain- Walt Whitman -Xavi |
Xavier, at my school there were also certain teachers who had that level of respect like Porcupine, and some teachers who didn’t get any like Botchan. If any teacher at my school seemed like a push over or was weak, they got picked on by their students. Some students would just do simple things to aggravate them, but others would go at great lengths to tick them off. The simplest prank I can think of is just plainly being disruptive in class. However, a greater prank would be stealing the teachers’ personal items. Like I mention in my blog, one teacher had their laptop stolen. It seems like you participated in a couple of your teachers prank. I never been disrespectful to a teacher, but I have thought about it. I think there is at least one teacher that grind your gears, and you just want to get back at them
ReplyDeleteThree thumbs up for the Dead Poet's Society reference, I was really waiting for someone to make a comparison to that movie. Before realizing the direction Botchan's plot was headed in, I was really hoping it was going to end up with some 'O captain, my captain!'-esque reconciliation between Botchan and his students but that wasn't really the case...
ReplyDeleteIn response to what you said, Kenneth, about the student teacher relationships at your school, it was a bit different where I went. For the most part, students and teachers had a good level of mutual respect and not only got along, but got along pretty well. The only teachers who didn't have this were the ones that treated students unfairly and disrespectfully and in turn had it thrown back in their faces.