Throughout this semester, I have continuously noticed that some teachers are not sympathetic and not just in college. I have noticed that many of my teachers just don’t even seem to care to try to actually teach. Many teachers are just going through the motions, and that is not what teaching is about. It’s about making an impact on your students’ lives, making them excited to learn and impacting them so they can make an impact in the world. To make an impact in a student’s life, you cannot just pass him or her, you have to actually care.

I may seem to sit here and write all of my complaints down for people to read, and yes, that is one of my motives. However, I also want to be relatable and help make a change. Many things on this campus have begun to concern me as of late, especially the parking situations and the new scheduling of classes because these seem to coincide and create many problems for students like myself.

With the new scheduling of classes, many people have a harder time finding a parking spot on campus in enough time to get to their classes. For myself, I have 8 A.M. classes Monday through Thursday, so I have to get to campus by 7:30 at the latest to ensure I have a parking spot.

For students with later start times, they have to get onto campus at least an hour earlier to ensure a spot in time. With this in mind, many students have personal issues and cannot always make it on time to campus to get a spot. Sometimes they just skip class, but other times they try to get to class, even if they are running 15 minutes late. That shows dedication. But there are teachers that still act very angrily for interrupting class. I have seen this firsthand many a time, but only one of my teachers has shown any sympathy for her students in this concern.

This teacher asks my class every day if we were able to find parking on campus easily, and if not, what is there that she can do to help. She listens to our concerns. She went above her department to talk about the parking on campus and is always so adamant about letting us know that she is there for us. When we are in class, she has open discussions about what we are learning about and makes sure that none of us ever feel “dumb” when we are discussing a story. She cares, and she makes it known.

I can tell with her that she is truly passionate about her job, unlike many of my other professors. I am not saying my other teachers aren’t passionate, but I am saying that I cannot tell because they seem like they are just teaching as a job, not as a passion.

The same can be said in high schools as well. I have seen my younger brother go through a very hard first semester of high school, and his teachers have seemed to beat him down even more. I would have thought that teachers would have more sympathy for ninth graders- it’s their first year in high school and they’re going through so many different things, but for my brother, they just don’t seem to care at all.

I just want to know where the passion for teaching has gone in so many teachers. Having the ability to change your students’ lives and make them grow into great people is such an amazing gift that teachers possess, but many do not use anymore.