How to handle a teacher you do not like

Last year, I was giving a talk to a girls’ school in Meru called Kathera girls High School. After an excellent and inspiring speech in which I discussed the powerful 5Rs for revision, then came time for questions.

A girl shot up her hand and asked a question that will always ring in my mind. ‘How can I study a subject I like, but it is taught by a teacher I hate?

This took me back 17 years ago. I was in form three, we were taught Biology by a teacher we all disliked. Disliking is an understatement; we went on rampage more than 5 times asking the principle to change the teacher for us. Anyway, it never happened and I passed Biology with a very good grade, B+ I think. Actually a good number of my classmates passed well.

What trick did we employ to pass Biology that was taught by a teacher we disliked?

I will discuss my secret that I used to help me study Biology.

I viewed the teacher like a peel of an orange. He was just a housing for the sweet inner fresh. He was nobody to me, what mattered is the stuff he was teaching.

According to me, everything else about him was bad, but I realized one very important thing; I did not have to like him as a person. Provided I grasped the facts he was teaching, the rest is garbage. If I grasped the facts I would pass the exam and he would be left there and my life would be progress better.

That is exactly what I did. Like the way I remove a peel of an orange to enjoy the sweet inner fresh, I ignored his personality. I was interested in passing Biology. He was just a vessel to deliver the subject.

Be a bit clever, convince yourself that you do not need the peel and although the peel is bitter you dot not throw away the whole orange fruit. Actually be happy that the bitter peel is protecting the nice and sweet fresh from get contaminated.

Therefore, it is a matter of choice, to either throw away the whole fruit together with the peel or ignore the peel by removing it and enjoy the sweet fresh.

Similarly, it is personal choice to hate the teacher and the subject or hate the teacher and like the substance he/she is teaching, knowing that the subject will help you in future.