The stereotypical image of the relationship between contemporary public high school students and their teachers is, unfortunately, an adversarial one. Like lots of supposed cultural touchstones, though, that particular portrait is more wrong than right. Most students and most teachers, even a cursory examination of available evidence would show, have a mutual respect that is beneficial both to those who teach and to those who are taught.
Three Walker County, Georgia, students are typical of the many in the region who have a healthy appreciation and understanding of the positive role teachers have played in their lives. The trio, all recognized as part of a statewide academic achievement program, offered public testimony last week about the teachers who inspired and motivated them. Their heartfelt words — not the oft-sensationalized accounts of high school life that fill the tabloid press and provide grist for the most self-serving of cable TV commentators — should be the standard by which teachers and students should be judged and remembered.
Katie Sickler of Ridgeland High, Devin Shields of Gordon Lee High and Chris McHugh of LaFayette High are, by any measure, supremely accomplished students, honored by Georgia’s Student-Teacher Achievement program as outstanding high school seniors. STAR students must have the highest SAT scores in their class and be in the top 10 percent of their class. Recognition as a STAR student allows each of the honorees to name the teacher they consider most important to their development. The students praise of their teachers is worth repeating.
Miss Sickler, who will attend Georgia Tech and major in mathematics and physics, chose history teacher Ryan Bandy as her STAR teacher. “He’s done so much to make sure I have everything I need,” she said, and thanked him for “challenging me and allowing me to accelerate my education.”
Mr. Shields, who plans to attend Brigham Young University to study astrophysics, named history instructor Kevin McElhaney as his STAR teacher. He said Mr. McElhaney “allowed me to see solutions and look at all points of view. He taught me critical thinking skills I can use for the rest of my life, and gave me the tools and guidance I needed.”
Mr. McHugh, who will attend the University of Georgia to major in either mathematics or pharmacy, named Tara Tollett, an English instructor, as his STAR teacher, saying that “she taught me to think outside the box, and pushed me to do better.” That, like the other student comments, is high praise, indeed.
The feeling is mutual. Mr. McElhaney, for example, said that Mr. Shields was “the student every teacher would love to have. He helped those around him become better students and made me work to be better.”
There are, to be sure, instances in which both high school students and teachers fail to meet accepted standards of conduct and academics. Too often, the public tends to dwell on those often highly publicized cases rather than acknowledge the majority of teachers and students who follow the rules and meet the challenges posed by the educational process. Walker County’s STAR students and others like them in Georgia and elsewhere are a reminder of the good things that can transpire when teachers and students work in harmony in the pursuit of knowledge.