Dear Teacher...

Dear teachers,

       Remember me?

       The job,

       Behind your paycheck?

       The writer,

       The scientist,

       The musician,

       The historian,

       The budding mathematician?

       The student.

       That’s me.

Dear English teacher,

         I respect your opinion

         I promise, I do

         But I simply don’t

         Agree. And

         No,

         I’m not lazy

         Just tired

         Of getting shot down.

         Your big words

         Do not make you any better

         Than me.

         So for once,

         Hear me out.

         Remember-

         There are more things

         Than are dreamt of

          In your philosophy.

Dear science teacher,

         I know you didn’t have

        What it took

        To understand the world,

       To innovate,

       To be the next Thomas Edison,

       But what if I do?

       If history stopped

       In the same time period as you

       We’d still have slavery.

       But then,

       Maybe that’s how you see me-

       A slave

       To your old,

       Outdated,

       rules.

       Sure, they’re scientific

       But not prophetic.

Dear Band director,

        Listen

                Listen

                         And listen

         Is mostly all you say-

         Listen

         And imitate

         And emulate

         Become.

         But for all that talk,

         When have you ever

         Listened

         To me?

         How can I ever become

         If I don’t even know

         What I’ve done?

Dear history teacher,

         You are not

         A Sunday school preacher.

         American victory

         And Nobel peace prizes

         Are not all

         I need to see.

         Books may write the past,

         But I will write the future.

         School is not the place to hide

         From the world

         But to learn how to

         Conquer it.

         So teach me, please

         Uncut

         Unedited

         True history

Dear math teacher,

         Telling me you don’t

         Understand

         What’s so hard

         Why I can’t be perfect,

         Is not some twisted version

         Of a magic formula.

         If you’re going to be

         Part of the equation

         That adds up to my future,

         Maybe you should be the one

         To take another look

         At those functions.

         Make a new model,

         Let functionality become

         A part of yourself.

Dear teachers,

         I know

         I understand

         Your job can be hard,

         But if you’d just

         Take a minute,

         Listen to me,

         The student,

         Who’s spent just as much time

         In that class,

         I might just teach something

         To you.