Some of my best teachers: my classmates
Posted Saturday, February 18, 2012 04:27 PM

The word teacher usually means a professional educator, an elder who teaches skills or procedures.  I can also mean a coach, a mentor or a specially trained person.   There is also another phrase meaning learning thing from a pressured point of view.  That is, peer pressure is usually thought of being negative.  Sometimes, however, some of your best lessons in life or most memorable will come from your peers.  I would like to share that although they may never have known it, my classmates are some of my most memorable teachers!

There is a song from the Broadway show "Wicked" that speaks to being changed by a person.  It's the song "Changed for good."  You can find the song on You Tube.  The lyrics include the words "because I knew you, I was changed for good."  Of course the person you turn out to be has a lot of influences:  parents, educators, historical figures, popular culture, ethnic culture.  But, I can't disregard the influence my classmates were to me.  I grew up in the Portuguese community in the North end.  In the late fifties most girls were expected to drop out of school at 16 and work to support the family.  Of course there are exceptions.  My parents valued education and my mother especially wanted to see us educated.  In the north end in those days, life was hard in many ways and predictable, work on weekends, grocery shopping on Fridays, housework on Saturday, church and family visiting on Sundays with the occasional day trip to Lincoln Park  or the beach or a festival.  Many of my classmates at New Bedford High School planned to have high education, make a difference, change the world.  It's funny how many times a name or face from the yearbook will come to mind in my day to day life.  For example, when I judge high school debate, I think of our debating society members.  I didn' thave the confidence to go on to try out for that extra curricular program, but I felt inspired by those people high scholarship.  I remember the pep squad, the honor students, the musical talented classmates and I feel lucky!