WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IN 38 YEARS OF TEACHING

There are students who are eager to learn and excel. There are students who just want to get by. Encourage the latter to be the former.

Teachers do not give grades; students earn them. Students need and want to be challenged.

Giving high grades does not help anyone. Having your students deserve and earn high grades helps everyone.

Cheating is wrong. Have confidence that if you fail there is another plan for you. You may get away with cheating, but it will haunt you later in life.

Be friendly with your students. They will do better. However, do not give into them. Hard work is good for everyone. Materialism is bad for everyone.

Encourage your students to think and to be the best they can be. It will help make the world a better place. Teaching the youth to live on the earth and not off the earth is good for everyone.

Knowledge is important, but wisdom is better. Everyone makes mistakes. Habits are not mistakes. We can work together and encourage each other.

There are many ways to get a point across. Be creative and you will get the point across.

Students have lots of excuses for missing class, not doing assignments or doing poorly. Most are made up and not true. Discover which ones are true. Be considerate of the true ones and be hard on the made up ones.

Educated people have done more harm than uneducated people. Show students the difference between education and wisdom.

Educating youth does change society. Be careful about what you teach.

For every action whether physical, chemical, biological, social or political there is a reaction. Teach students the consequences of actions.

A teacher can destroy a life or turn a life around. The latter is better. Many students have had hard lives and have had bad teachers. Be a positive teacher for these students and help them turn their lives around.