People Share The One Thing A Teacher Told Them That They've Never Forgotten

Snitches get stiches.

"Whenever my teacher said anything controversial that he didn't want repeated, he would preface it with 'Don't quote me on this because I'll just deny it.' I still use that."

- gorillamagnet

"One of the coolest, more laid back teachers I had was straight up like "If you try to snitch on me, I control your grades."

- thatredditrando

Do better for those who come after you.

"Class camp, we're out walking a trail to the next campsite, carrying our lives in our packs. I was not in great physical shape and was well back in the rear. So it's basically just me and one teacher to make sure no one fell too far back."

"We came to a part where a branch had fallen across the trail. Big enough to be an effort to move it but not so large that it couldn't have been moved by any of the thirty+ other students and teachers that had already walked around it.
Without even thinking about it, I grabbed the branch and tossed it to the side of the path."

"The teacher said to me: 'Thirty boys walked past that branch. It took one man to move it, and he made life easier for every person after him.'"

"It became a personal motto, of sorts: 'Make it easier for the people who come after you.' Although when you do a good job, the person who comes after you is usually also you."

- Gambatte

"This is such a great metaphor and life lesson. I always, always do this if I am walking down the street or driving and see crap on the path or road that would be a hazard. You have no idea whether a parent with a pram, disabled person, blind person, or just rushing person is going to encounter it next on the path, or what the car behind you will encounter once you pass the hazard. Smooth their way."

- EgonOnTheJob

"I don't know why, but this anecdote gave me shivers. What a great story! I can only imagine how young-you felt after hearing this praise."

- seemstressed

Pay attention.

"Pay attention to what you pay attention to."

- ModerateExtremism

"If anyone's interested it's called metacognition. It's a really valuable way to build self-awareness and understand how you come to beliefs."

"It's also worth checking out epistemology the study of how we know things."

- southpaw007

"Teaching how to think should be integral to our system. Not how you should think but the basic ability of critical thinking, questioning. Higher order thinking."

- Axelfbomber

"As someone going to school to become a teacher, this mindset is becoming more common among teachers. Teachers observe how students prefer to learn and incorporate those aspects into the curriculum. Obviously there are still teachers who don't care about the learning needs of their students, but as time goes on more and more teachers will embrace lessons that promote critical thinking."

- GOODWOOD4024

Learn the rules.

"My music teacher used to tell me that before you could break the rules, you had to understand them."

- BoneWitchNun

"Jazz in a nutshell."

- FasterThenDoom

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Knowing what information is good or bad.

"2005 a teacher said intelligence of the future will not be defined by how well you know one skill but instead how well you can find information and decipher what information is good and bad."

- kwakaaa

"One of my high school teachers said the same thing. 'A smart person doesn't always know the answer to the question but he knows where to find it,' or something along those lines."

- Suspicious-Nature354

"That's honestly true about a lot of fields, take physics for example, ask a physics question and even the most intelligent physicist likely won't know the answer immediately, but they'll know exactly what books to consult and what formulas to use to find the answer."

- TheDonutPug

"Same with medicine."

"A doctor may not remember literally every single drug, but they are more than capable of knowing exactly where to look for the right information and having complete trust in the sources they use."

- Namika

Advocate for yourself.

"A teacher of mine said he would write me a letter of recommendation, but it had been a week or so and he hadn't gotten back to me yet. I went in a 3rd time to remind him and I started off with an apology, to which he corrected me, saying, 'Don't ever stop advocating for yourself.'"

"It's advice I haven't forgotten since."

- Ded_Wait

Treating kids with respect.

"I had an English teacher my freshman year of high school who was one of the RARE adults that treated all of his students with respect while at the same time challenging us to do better."

"I distinctly remember him telling our class:

"You are not as mature as you think you are, but you are more mature than your parents give you credit for."

"He also told us about an agreement/rule he had with his own kids. He understood how hard it was for kids to do the right thing in the face of peer pressure. So he had told his kids that if they were ever in a situation (underage drinking, drugs, whatever) where they knew they shouldn't be, they could call and using an previously agreed upon codeword that was banal and unsuspicious, he would know he needed to go get them and be 'the bad guy'. He would show up, "Uncle Buck" style and get them out of wherever they were. This would allow them to save face with their friends and there would be no consequences for being the situation in the first place."

- Ukiah

We need to thank teachers more for what they do for all of us as they shape the future generations. Especially since the pandemic began, teachers are in higher stress situations than they ever have been before.

It's time we start paying them what they deserve.