a teacher's grace.

the greatest thing i've learned
throughout 18 years of schooling.

In Korean, "a teacher's grace" sounds much cooler--"스승의은혜." The grace of a teacher, not grace like a ballerina, but grace as in gracious, is a concept I've come to realize with age. As an immature student, teachers were nothing more than a merciless provider of homework, exams, and grades. At age 22, my thoughts have changed tremendously.

I hope everyone agrees with me when I say that there exist very specific teachers who truly made a significant impact on my life. If not a significant impact, there has to be a teacher whom you can never forget, whether it be for negative or positive reasons. This post is intended to reveal teachers whom I've grown to respect because to this day, they have refused to be forgotten.

Out of the 40 possible teachers I've learned from during my 18 years of schooling, three teachers will remain in my memory as being the most influential. The first two are my homeroom teachers from my short time spent in Korea. As an American who didn't speak a sentence of Korean, I was plopped into a classroom full of real, live, breathing, native Korean students. Let's just say they didn't exactly welcome my Ralph Lauren-wearing, Jansport-carrying, dyed-hair swishing, American-ness with rice cakes and smiles. I wasn't fond of their "Sport Replay" shirts and wannabe "Gansport" backpacks either. I was a rebellious and frustrated 13 year-old who was confused and suffocated by her foreign surroundings. Until I met Choi Jin-Heung 선생님. My 중1 (7th grade) homeroom teacher was one of the sweetest, most genuine, kind-hearted Korean men I have ever met. He was strict when necessary, but didn't unfairly physically discipline his students like the other testosterone-driven Korean male teachers in my school. While his colleagues were beating the bejeezus out of their students, Choi Jin-Heung 선생님 was more creative and clever in his punishments. I still remember what he called the "새우눈" or "shrimp eyes." He would slightly pinch the sides of our eyes and twist them so they stung a little. The entire time he would chuckle at us squirm and cringe and we would feel better knowing he wasn't really angry--just trying to teach a lesson. I know it sounds horrible and you're probably thinking, "wtf?!" but the entire punishment was really a huge inside joke amongst the kids in our homeroom. Unlike the other homerooms and teachers, he would never hit us with wooden sticks until we bruised. He fully understood the chaos in my mind and helped in any and every way possible to ease my transition. I can't express enough how grateful I am to 최진흥 선생님. He will be the first person I find when I go back to Korea.

My 중2 homeroom teacher, Jung Seon-Soon 선생님 was also a sweet, sweet woman. Barely 5 feet, barely 100 pounds, barely a voice loud enough to carry over a room of 50 kids, and barely experienced enough to handle a new job in a new school. Our class was the first class she tackled as a teacher at our middle school. She was new to the school and in for a real treat. I still feel bad for the way we treated her and for the way we disrespected her. I didn't like her initially because she made a spectacle of me the first day of school. She asked my name, called me up to the front, and told everyone that this is exactly what NOT to look like at school. She beat me countless times, one time bruising my two thighs from hip to kneecap. We roughened her up, and she took it all in and roughened us up right back. I grew a newfound respect for this tiny teacher and she for me. She soon realized I wasn't failing classes because I was dumb or incompetent; I just didn't speak Korean. She soon realized my circumstance and sat me down and talked to me about my dreams and aspirations. I told her I was going to go back to America and go to NYU. That, I did. The day I got into NYU, I emailed her telling her I did it. We've been emailing ever since. Jung Seon-Soon 선생님 saw past my punk tough exterior and tried to understand me for who I was, who I used to be, and who I wanted to become. I was truly blessed during my short stay in Korea by having such beautiful people as homeroom teachers. Thank You, Lord.

Finally, Michelle Gannon. Everyone hated her because she thought she was perfect and too good to be teaching in a public high school. Kids thought she was pompous and failed to be a professor, therefore, taught high school classes like college courses. I loved her because she was challenging, tough, creative, innovative, and unlike any other teacher in our school. I appreciated her confidence and accredited her amazing teaching skills to her degrees from Princeton and Columbia. She was young, blonde, blue-eyed, and participated in triathlons. She wrote me an amazing recommendation letter for college and let me read it, telling me that she "never lets students read recommendation letters, but you're special." In the letter, she claimed that she hoped to have a daughter like me. I cried the day she left our school. Her face used to light up every time I walked into her classroom. She was the teacher who first helped me realize my gift with words. Ms. Gannon was in Japan somewhere the last time I heard. She is truly a remarkable person.

There you have it. A long drawn-out look into my past. 스승의은혜. A teacher's grace. I would've been a significantly different person had I not met the aforementioned teachers. Some people are meant to be teachers. These people strive to change lives. These 3 people actually have.

Cheers,

Cheryl

PS: I started this post back in the beginning of August but didn't finish and post it until now. That's why the date reads August 6th. Today is actually the 31st. Just didn't wanna confuse my faithful readers... :)