Student's Defence 2

Did your teacher ever said to you "You have to participate more in the class", "You, students, should not take what teachers said for granted, teachers are human, sometimes human makes mistakes", "Stop talking to your classmates and pay attention".

Dear Principal,
I know that all the teachers meant well when they asked me to participate more in the class. They care about me, they even realised that I exist, even though I don't participate actively in class. They're right; I should not be so passive, but at the same time were wrong about me. I have my reasons why I don't engage actively in class, but I seem lively when I'm talking to my classmates.

In Physics class, I was taught that light travels faster than sound. Now I know the reason why some teachers appear bright, seem and act so smart, that I believe this class is going to be fun, until I hear them speak. But can I say this to the teacher? I was also told that light travels at certain speed, now I have a question, how fast does the dark travel then? If mankind can measure how fast light and sound travel, is there such a thing like "speed of smell"?.I can't ask the teacher as that would be considered as a mockery, I believe. That kills my creativity.

In History class, I was told that back in some years, there were wars, revolutions, and how great some heroes were. By any means, I don't try to make fun of history at all or trivialise the sacrifices the heroes have made. However, I couldn't recall what I did and ate 2 weeks ago, and these historians could write in such a details, events that had passed for sometimes. I'm pretty sure, they didn't have any time to write the story of how they fight for their freedom on such a chaos day by day. Oh, do you read newspaper daily, Mr. Principal? No, I meant do you ever compare two newspapers? Because I did, the same event sounded so different by two different writers. Different person has different opinions and understanding about something, or have you told some of your stories to your friends or children, you know what I'm talking about, you'd hide some of the embarrassing parts and exaggerated the others. So, wouldn’t you think it’s natural, if I thought History could be biased, and the events told, weren't exactly what happened. Could I discuss this with the teacher? I'd be killed.

In Math class, I was taught that everything multiplied by 0, will result in 0. The teacher seems so sure and very confident with that."If the temperature today is 0 degree, and it's predicted that tomorrow will be twice as cold as today. Then what's the temperature tomorrow?", will the teacher think that I'm trying to make fun of them?

In Religion class, I was taught that God is good and almighty, God knows what "WILL HAPPEN" in the future, and God creates "EVERYTHING". Ug, sir, you don't want to listen to what I think about this.

Do you see my problems now, Mr. Principal? If I speak of all the ideas I have, I'll get to see you very often, don't you reckon? I will get a lot of detentions, as the teachers will deem me problematic student. I can easily share my ideas with my fellow classmates, they won't mind. But with teacher? You tell me. I don't take things for granted, and develop my own ideas in radical way. That's why my involvement in class will be minimised. But at least, I did pay attention, didn’t I?

Yours sincere lost minded and in dilemma,

Student

Herli © 2009