The Journal

Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial

Michelle Oyola

The best teacher I have ever had was a self-proclaimed bitch.

On the first day of class, she peered at her new students like a hungry lioness over her spectacles and said, "I'm 49 percent bitch and 51 percent sweetheart. You can push me either way, honey.

"Look to the right and left of you," she continued. "One of the people next to you will drop. My classes have about a 50 percent drop-out rate."

She smiled at us with her teeth. She was proud of that figure.

Her name was Fatemeh Nichols, and she was one of the chemistry teachers at East Central College in Union. Many of her former students hated her. It only took me a few days in her class to figure out why.

Nichols pounded us with so much homework that my husband would often find me asleep at the table, face-first in the chemistry textbook. I had a graphite mark on my right hand from carefully scribing hundreds of formulas, graphs and lab reports. In my sleep, reactions and compounds danced in my head.

But I am eternally grateful to that 49-percent bitch. Those of us who remained in her class feared her, respected her and more than anything wanted to please her. She demanded perfection from her students, and like the tortured falling in love with their torturer, I wanted nothing more than to give it to her. She taught me time management, study habits and that I am capable of much more than I could ever perceive.

There are not enough teachers like Nichols. Too many teachers let students coast through their classes, and the evidence can be seen in numerous studies.

For example, a 2002 special report titled "Reality Check" found that a large majority of students say their classmates often get their high school diplomas without having learned what was expected. These students then come to college and expect to be able to coast just like they did in high school, and they are often granted that luxury.

It also is common knowledge that employers of today complain that high school and college graduates lack the skills needed for their first jobs. Entire books have been written on the subject, including Mel Levine's "Ready or Not, Here Life Comes." Levine says that students of today place little importance on what they are learning in college. When they carry this carefree manner into the working world, they fail.

Unfortunately, students may be learning this apathetic attitude from their professors. Some teachers allow late homework, but few bosses tolerate many missed deadlines. Many teachers let multiple absences and tardies slide, but no jobs would allow employees to miss work or come in late constantly. These contradictions make it seem obvious why so many young people fresh out of college have difficulties in their first job.

Nichols provides a stark contrast to these practices. Late homework was never accepted. She made a point to publicly ask students who had missed where they were when they returned. And if you were late, you might as well not even bother walking in.

But these totalitarian rules are not the only traits that separate her from other professors. Any student who truly wanted to understand the subject matter was granted infinite explanations and examples, both during class and afterward. She made a point to go around the room and ask students the toughest questions so she could identify the weak areas. In short, she wanted everyone in her class to succeed.

I know that not every student can flourish in the iron fist of a teacher like Nichols. I viewed that class as a personal challenge. However, there are other ways that teachers can be as influential
as Nichols.

For example, Ed Bishop in the journalism department at Webster didn't bury me in homework or ridicule the class. Instead, Bishop has the ability to inspire and encourage his students to always reach for the next goal. I'll never forget when he sat me down after class with one of my assignments and said, "I would expect better from you." It was worse than any F he could have given me, because I looked up to him as a role model.

All students should have a teacher who brings out the best in them. These teachers may pull it, bully it, coax it, encourage it, demand it out of their students. But no matter what their method, if they are capable of helping students see beyond the grades on their papers or the semesters remaining until graduation, they have left a permanent impression in these students that will last a lifetime.

Because no boss could ever be as tough as Nichols.



Michelle Oyola, a junior journalism major, is a staff writer for The Journal.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools