It Won’t Make My Hamburger Taste Any Different

My high school alg teacher was an arrogant, uncaring, overbearing man. And he was the reason I wanted to be a high school advanced math teacher. I wanted to be just like him.

He was always telling stories at the beginning of classes to prove he was an arrogant, uncaring, overbearing man.

I have no doubt some of your parents will call me and complain. They do every year. I got a call a few years ago from an angry mother.

“You hate little Johnnie,” she said. I said “you’re right, I do.” What else could I say? Nothing I said would change her mind. It didn’t make my hamburger taste any diferent.

My first day of high school, he scared the crud out of me.

If I don’t like you, I’ll fail you. If your mommy calls me and complains, I’ll fail you. It won’t make my hamburger taste any different.

And there was the story about how he treated his young son when they lived in Chicagoland.

I drove outside of the town and dropped my son off and gave him a dollar and told him to be home by supper. Whether he got home or not wouldn’t make my hamburger taste any different.

He really did care about his students but he made certain nobody was going to try to play head games with him. And yes, he was very demanding when it came down to learning the material. I wanted to be just like him. And to this day, I use his favorite line: It won’t make my hamburger taste any different.

Would that there were more teachers like this.