Student and teacher relationships last forever...good and bad

Your education can certainly be more about what you learn in the books. We all experience through school, and we are expected to learn what is presented to us in the books, and through things like observations and experimentation. We learn a lot more than reading and math through, we learn about life and the people around us. There are so many life lessons to be learned and it’s not just our peers who affect who we may end up being in the future. The student and teacher relationship can nurture you, or can leave quite a scar on your soul.

I have a friend who once had a bad student and teacher episode that she carried with her for a very long time. In fact, up until recently she didn’t discuss it let alone try to get over it. Though she was not abused in any way, the effects of this student and teacher encounter did a lot of damage. She was very young, and was in her early years of learning to love art. She had a gift, it would seem, but her teacher decided to tear her down. She ripped up my friends painting right in front of her and berated her in front of the entire class.

As a result of this moment between student and teacher, my friend gave up on art and never painted or drew another thing. What the teacher had said and done had affected her so deeply that she was broken inside. She is now in her thirties and has just now faced the demons born from that student and teacher interaction. She decided to try to face her fears and pick up a paintbrush again. She showed me some of her work, and it is really good. That teacher obviously had no idea what she was talking about. That’s not even the point though. No teacher should have ever treated a child in that manner, talented or not. It’s unforgivable.

If you think your child is having trouble with the student and teacher interaction in their class, make sure you talk to them about it. Never dismiss it by saying that the teacher must be tough and that is just the way life is sometimes. This may be true, and surely we have all endured bad student and teacher relationships, but there are some moments than can paralyze and important part of your child’s growth and expression. If you sense something, talk with them and get them to tell you what happened. You may not be able to fix the problem, but you can try to minimize the damage.