Mary Sherry's 'My Favorite Teacher' By Mary Sherry

Education is constantly being redefined and has many different interpretations. The education system tends to be flawed at certain points but it may only be because each teacher has different methods of teaching their students or they just don’t care about their students futures. Three short essay writers talk about their own experience in the education and the positive and negatives to them. For example, Mary Sherry 's "In Praise of the "F" word” Sherry illustrates how students with a fear of failing would motivate them to try harder in school and make an effort to do well and succeed. Marry Sherry points out that “Before a teacher can expect students to concentrate, he has to get their attention, no matter what distractions may be at hand”(565).

Steinberg, she believed that “the secret for success in life was getting the fundamentals right.”(104) Although Hattie was the toughest teacher he had; Friedman compliments her by stating, “She was the polar opposite of ' 'cool, ' ' but we hung around her classroom like it was a malt shop and she was Wolfman Jack. None of us could have articulated it then, but it was because we enjoyed being harangued by her, disciplined by her and taught by her. She was a woman of clarity in an age of uncertainty”(105). Friedman took her Intro to Journalism course for 2 years and Hattie had not only taught him the fundamentals of journalism but the secrets of how to get successful and that you must struggle sometimes to get that what you want in the end. This proves that teachers like Hattie gives kids hope in school, and gives them a reason so work hard. Strict teachers are nothing but the best ones because of the fundamentals they teach and the serious attitude they bring to their students. Moreover in Mike Rose’s “I just wanna be average” Rose describes his experience in a vocational track class as normally teachers for these type of classes were far less motivated to teach, leading to their students sought out their own

As for students who are in high school moving onto college none other but family and teachers can help you reach your goal. But sometimes failure gets in the way of these goals, Sherry points out that “Most kids don’t put school first on their list unless they perceive something is at stake. They’d rather be sailing”(566) which in other words means kids won’t try unless you give them a reason to, students will think teachers feel bad for them and just pass them with an easy A or B but that is not good. You shouldn’t feel threatened in order to try in school, you should willingly try in school. Thankfully this is when the teachers give you a reality check. Friedman 's favorite teacher Hattie, she shows Friedman things that really matter in writing and in life. She shows him so much about writing and so much about himself that he himself did not realize. Most people cannot say they became close friends with a teacher but Friedman did, he states that they “remained friends for 30 years, and she followed, bragged about, and critiqued every twist in my career”(105). Another great teacher is McFarland, Rose’s teacher Mr.MacFarland. When Rose went into the College prep class his attitudes changed, his role model was MacFarland and he had taught him his role in life and basically lifted him back up from