Most moms send their elementary schoolers off to school with little pearls of wisdom. "Treat others as you wish to be treated", or maybe "It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice." My mom's was "Don't take crap from anyone." I really took this to heart.
My 5th grade teacher was Mrs. Carovano. To say she was "mean" would be like saying Hitler was a "bully." No, she was far more then mean. She was the spawn of Satan. Seriously, I think she might have been. I truly believe it was her ultimate goal to make every student's life a living hell, and she succeeded on a regular basis. I dreaded going to school, and I vividly remember my mom driving me to the front of Fairwood Elementary, telling me she loved me, and then "Don't take her crap." It was easy for me, I knew my parents would never hold me responsible for telling her off (and I actually only did it once). But what was really sad was watching all the other kids be bullied by her and them just take it. One day she had us do an art project, turn them in, then she held ones up she thought were "bad" and asked everyone to tell her why they were ugly. We weren't allowed to leave for recess until we had gone through them all. After the 3rd one I just couldn't take it anymore, and I raised my hand. She called on me and I told her (and I quote) "This is wrong! You are EVIL!" (OK, so I told her off more then once if you can't that time.) She looked quite flabbergasted, so I took it one step further: "I'm telling Dr. Fowler (the principal), and we're going to recess!" And then we did.
Then there was the time in 1st grade when we had to earn "money" by being good, then use that money to pay to go to recess or to the bathroom (seriously, Fairwood Elementary is like a prison). I, for obvious reasons, never had any money. I always had to bum $2 to take a pee. Well my friends got a little tired of it, and one day I really had to go, so I went to Mr. Nickels (also spawn of Satan) and told him I didn't have any money, but I really needed to go to the bathroom. He got this really evil smile on his face and told me I should behave and then I could "earn the privilege" of going to the bathroom. Yes folks, this was my 1st grade class. Well a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, so I went to the corner of the classroom, pulled down my pants, and did my business. I was sent to the principal's office, and as of that day no one had to "pay" to use the restroom anymore.
I may have been a huge pain in the ass for a majority of my teachers, but my mom's words of wisdom helped me stick up for other kids who didn't know how, or were too scared. As I got older I calmed down a bit, and most of my junior high and high school teachers really liked me (although to be fair, none of them were spawns of Satan). I still didn't take any crap - I was just slightly nicer about it.
Mom, thanks for teaching me to stick up for myself, and in turn, to stick up for others!
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