The Teacher in Salinas

The very qualities that teacher George Shirley, counselor Pamela Bernhard and teacher Pat Egan learned to admire in the Latino students--loyalty, perseverance, respect (and, I add, love)--may have worked against the students if they placed their trust in school staff who consciously or unconsciously didn’t believe in them. It is much harder to go against another person’s low opinion of you when you like and respect them than when you’re indifferent to them or dislike them. We’ve all heard of the successful adult who says, “I owe it all to that so and so teacher--he told me I’d never amount to anything!” In this case, the person was probably better off without any positive emotional ties to that teacher.

But this is not a good way for a young person to develop--he is forced into the position of either continuing to like the teacher and accepting the teacher’s low opinion of him (“You really should go into assembly work, you’re so good with your hands”) or, of emotionally distancing himself from the teacher and allowing himself to dream of better things. Perhaps this is one reason why some students do not allow themselves to get close to their teachers--a resulting loss to both student and teacher.

There are many fine, dedicated teachers and counselors who work very hard and do encourage their students to aspire beyond their circumstances. To them I say your efforts are truly appreciated. But we can all learn from what happened at Alisal High.

BEATRICE MORENO

Los Angeles