For an awful lot of people who have figured out interesting
paths in life, there seems to have been a teacher somewhere along the way who
believed in them. I don’t mean “believed in them” in some sweet and sentimental
way—I mean, believed that they were capable of more than they knew. For me, it
was a high school history teacher named Ray Karras.
He was nobody’s stereotype of the
‘favorite teacher,’ easy on the grades and eager to banter with his young
charges. (That was the social studies teacher down the hall, in bellbottoms and
moustache, who later went to jail for selling drugs.) No, Mr. Karras treated us
as if we were, or should be, young academics. He demanded papers that presented
well-laid out arguments (long papers!). If you asked him to write a college
recommendation, he would—but only in a sealed envelope sent straight to the
college, and it was well-known that sometimes he told them to reject the
applicant.
So: a compliment counted. I
remember him telling me one day, “You’re a good writer.” I was used to adults
telling me this, but only because I was glib, and knew a lot of words, and
hence was able to get away with a good deal. When Mr. Karras said it, I
actually believed it. Doubtless he gave
me a B, but doubtless it was worth a good deal more than all the top grades I
ever got.
- Bill McKibben is an Author, Educator and Environmentalist. He is the President and Co-Founder of 350.org
