Best teacher I've met - the impact a great teacher can have on his students

A few minutes ago I was trying to think of a subject to talk about in one of the articles I'll write today, and I wanted to talk about something different than the topics I approach almost daily. I wanted something different, but I also wanted to talk a little about school and why I think it's not the only option you have to live a good life.

While thinking about that I remembered a teacher I had, outside of school, that taught me math. In my country, whenever you need to take a big exam or whenever you need to pass a certain subject in school, like math, if you can't do it on your own, you can go and take some private lessons with another teacher or with the same teacher you have in school.

It's a common thing in Romania, and almost everyone who wants to perform well in school does it. I had to do it multiple times, and once, when I was in 8th grade, it worked really well. Because of those private lessons I am here now. That teacher taught me the beauty of writing and why I should use it to share my ideas.

But besides that, I had to take private lessons for mathematics too. It was the only subject in school that I hated and that I couldn't understand no matter what happened. Chemistry and physics were horrible too, but I never hated anything as I hated math.

I always blamed my lack of skill on all the teachers who didn't care enough about their profession to take the time and explain every single thing to the class, and make us all understand every mathematical concept they talked about. All the math teachers I had, cared only about those who had a "natural talent" for math, and could understand everything without asking too many questions. The rest of us... well, we were just an obligation.

However, when I was in high school I had to take some private lessons in order to make sure I'll pass my final exams. I was horrible at math, and it was the only subject I was worried about. At that time, one of my best friends was taking private lessons with an old teacher that lived in the city, and he always told me how awesome that teacher is and how nice he treats people. Since I was desperate to pass my final exams, I asked my friend to tell the teacher that I wanted to take private lessons too.

I was lucky he accepted, and after a week I was ready to go there. I was scared of what the teacher may say about my non existent math skills, and I had a huge feeling of anxiety I always get when having to deal with new people. I got there with my friend, he invited us in, we sat down, and we did math for about two hours.

My hand never got as tired as that day. He had a certain way of explaining things that I never saw before in a math teacher. He was solving the problems for us, and he explained each step. He never asked us to solve them, he just showed us how to do it. Of course, we had homework, because we also had to practice, but the private lessons were about how to solve the mathematical problems, not about how capable we are of doing it.

Before the lesson started we all gave him the money for that session, and after two hours we left. I liked the teacher, especially because he was really calm, and I was determined to go there the next week too.

However, the next Friday I had a huge surprise. My friend told me that the first time I went there, the teacher was "different" because he was in some pain, and usually he's happier and more open to people. Apparently he suffered a stroke a long time ago, and he was in pain from time to time. The second time I went with my friend for private lessons, he wasn't in pain any more.

He did something I never saw a teacher doing, at least not in my country. He made us sit down, then he left the room. Five minutes later he came back with coffee for him and for us. He served us coffee. I was confused, because I wasn't prepared for something like that. Apparently, he liked me and my friend, and he considered us to be "his favorite students", and because of that he was nice to us.

Not only that, but whenever we gave him the money for the private lesson, he gave us a little amount back. We had to give him around $10 for each session we had, so $10 each Friday. For some of you that may not be a big amount, but in Romania, it's quite a lot of money. However, every time we gave him the money, he gave us around $3 back.

Again, that may be a small amount for you, but it wasn't for us. Three dollars in Romania can be equivalent to 5 or 10 coups of coffee, depending where you're buying from. I never saw any teacher do something like that, serve his students coffee and give them money back.

Once he also made us a gift, a pendant that looked like a football shoe. The interesting thing it was that it wasn't only a pendant- it was an 8GB USB Drive. I never saw, in my life, a math teacher to make such gift to his students.

We also took several breaks during our private lessons and he was telling us things about his past. He had a huge passion for mathematics, but he was also really good with people. And he loved to drink. As old as he was, he loved drinking from time to time.

While I hated math for as much as I can remember, my last year of high school was all about math. It was one of the first times I actually enjoyed that subject, and that only because of such a great man. It was a pleasure to go and have private lessons with that teacher, and I am extremely happy I had the courage to ask him to teach me.

I have to admit that I had my doubts about the way he was teaching us mathematics. I wasn't 100% sure that I will pass my final exams. I am happy I was wrong. I passed it, and while my grades weren't amazing, at least I didn't fail, which is great.

After we saw the results, me and my friend called him to tell him we passed. He was so happy that he invited us, once again, to his place to celebrate. We stayed there for around an hour, talking about all kind of things and listening to his stories. He wanted us all to drink something, but me and my friend refused, because we don't usually drink at all, so he served us something else while he drank some alcohol. In a few minutes he was drunk.

When we finished talking we went home, and a week later me and my friend decided we should buy him something for how much he helped us. We bought him a few sweets we know he loved, and also, the thing he always told us how much he liked - something to drink. So we also bought him some Wine and some Whiskey. That day he called us to thank us for the gift and to tell us how much he appreciates the Whiskey, since it was hot outside and he could stay inside and drink a glass of Whiskey with ice.

I wrote this article because I wanted to talk about how much of an impact a great teacher can have on his or her students. That man made me enjoy the only subject I hated in school all my life. He did all that by being really friendly,by being a great person, and by having a huge passion for mathematics, a passion that made even us like that subject.

I think schools all around the world should have similar teachers, people who can inspire kids to learn more and educate themselves, people who care about the subjects they know and want to help others improve. I really believe that if more people like that man would be teaching in schools, more students would be interested in getting good grades and learning more, if not for the subject, at least out of respect for the teacher, just like me and my friend did.