Growing up I was one of the kids that liked school. I enjoyed the social part of it a bunch (imagine that), but I also liked to learn. I never had too many issues with my classmates or teachers. In fact, I really liked most of my teachers! Some of them were laid back and funny, while others were very strict and serious. You could usually figure out pretty quickly what a teacher was like and what they would put up with.
My senior year in high school I had Mrs. Hansen (name has been changed) for English IV. She was tough and knew what she was doing. I liked that she challenged us, but she also was sarcastic, funny and got on our level. If you questioned her about something, she would somehow rearrange the question to where you were doing all the work and finding the answer. If you disagreed with her about anything, it didn’t matter, she would win the argument. We were in her world! She was kind of scary in a really nice kind of way. Mrs. Hansen demanded respect and she got it!
One day we were put into groups and were given an English poet to research. We had about 30 minutes to find everything we could about that poet from our textbooks and encyclopedias that were in the room ( No, there was no internet in those days). When time was up, each group presented the information we found. Each person in the group had to say certain things. When it was my turn, most of what I was going to present was already covered by other people in my group. I said the few things I needed to say and was finished. Mrs. Hansen questioned me about the topic and I answered with , “Yeah, whatever.” It was not in a rude tone - just an “I’m done” tone. “WHATEVER!!!! WHAT…EVER???” She kind of freaked out! I didn’t mean to be disrespectful - the answer had already been stated. Mannnnnnn was that the WRONG thing to say! She turned away and went on with the lesson. Whew! I had narrowly gotten by with that one…. Or so I thought!
For the next four weeks or so, anytime I raised my hand to answer a question (sometimes there were bonus points involved), she would call on me, look at me, and right as I was about to answer, she would say “Whatever” and shake her hand and turn away. I was humiliated! It was kind of funny at first, but then it got old! I got it! I didn’t understand why she kept it up? I wasn’t a bad kid that was disrespectful. It hurt my heart!
One day I stayed after class and asked if I could speak with her. I was expecting a “Whatever?” from her, but that is not what happened. She sat down and said, “Are you tired of me answering you like I have been?” I said “ Yes, ma’am. I am sorry for what I said and if it disrespected you.” She smiled at me and said, “You are smart and learn pretty quickly. School is a gift. Not everyone gets to have an education. If we blow it off and don’t care and give ‘WHATEVER’ answers, we will never learn and we won’t get smarter. I expect you to do big things with your life. ALWAYS want to know more, don’t ever stop caring about learning new things - no more WHATEVER answers, ok?” And that was all she had to say! From that point on, I pushed myself to be the best student I could be.
Life is too precious to have a WHATEVER attitude about things. Even if it is hard, you can learn from all situations . Don’t blow things off because you are not interested in it or it is hard for you. You might actually learn something you will need to know. The lesson you learn may be more of a life lesson than academic. Challenge yourself to become better in every way you can EVERY SINGLE DAY!!
What is something that you have a “whatever” attitude about and don’t want to do or learn? How can you change the way you look at that and what will you do to challenge yourself in that situation? Ask yourself why you need to know this? Now go do it - get out of that comfort zone!