I’m going to be 33 in March, and I can honestly still say that I REALLY hated school. I had long hair (until I was forced to cut it), I was made fun of and called every name that boys make fun of other boys who looked different in the 90’s. I wanted every minute to just go by faster so that I could get out of this place that’s I didn’t belong, and get back to my guitar and my stereo at home in my room. I only stayed long enough to graduate because everyone in my life system told me it was a bad idea to drop out. Knowing what I know now, I honestly just wish I did. I haven’t needed proof that I even went to high school since I was currently attending classes in 2003.
Anyway...I used to read CD booklets hidden inside / behind my school book pages during English lessons in high school just as a way to at least read about music while I was in these boring classes filled with people who thought I was a weirdo.
One day my teacher caught me and said “Slapshot huh?”. Immediately I thought “great, now my teacher is going to lecture me about how bad I’m doing in this class, how I’m wasting his time, etc. Instead, he finished his thought and proceeded to tell me that he used to see them back in the 80’s at The Rat, and that their singer Choke hit him in the head with a hockey stick during one of their shows.
I was floored. It was one of the first times that an authority figure of any kind seemed even remotely close to being my peer, or acknowledging any of my personal interests in any way. It’s probably not a good thing that I can truthfully say that about basically every other teacher I had. After he interrupted his own lesson to talk to me about Slapshot, blatantly ignoring the rest of the class, I paid attention to the rest of his lesson with a newfound vigor and excitement to learn from him because of the fact that the person teaching showed me that they identify with who I am as a person.
This video is fairly unrelated, but it does express my views on the public school system.
