You Live, You Play, You Die
(The class is playing softball. The teacher tends to end the game early and let us have “free time.”)
Me: “When is the game going to end?”
Teacher: “Never.”
Me: “But we have lives!”
Teacher: “Not anymore.”
(The class is playing softball. The teacher tends to end the game early and let us have “free time.”)
Me: “When is the game going to end?”
Teacher: “Never.”
Me: “But we have lives!”
Teacher: “Not anymore.”
(This happens when I am in first grade.)
Teacher: “Who was the first man in outer space?”
Me: “Yuri Gagarin.”
Teacher: “No, it was Alan Shepherd.”
Me: *being a bit of a space geek* “No, he was the first American in space, Mrs. [Teacher]. Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space.”
Teacher: “I don’t think so.”
(I told my mom this after school. She took me to the library where I photocopied the relevant page of the encyclopedia. I brought it into class the next day, and the teacher actually apologized.)
(I am at school. My teacher has a break and a kid asks a question.)
Kid: “Why isn’t the school day shorter?”
(Before the teacher can answer:)
Me: “So she gets paid more!”
Teacher: “…”
(We take part in a well-known pizza chain’s literacy promotion. The goal was to read the most pages in a book by the end of the month to win a pizza party. This happens after I’ve written down my number of pages on the chart.)
Teacher: “[My Name], don’t lie about your pages. There’s no way you could have read eight hundred pages in a week.”
Me: “I’m not lying, though. I really did read that many pages. You can call my mom or grandfather. They’ll tell you.”
Teacher: “I still think you’re lying. Look at the board. Your fellow students have no more than hundred pages between them.”
Me: “I’ve got the book right here!” *I open up my bag to reveal that year’s copy of Guinness Book of World Records*
Teacher: “There’s no possible way you could have read all that and understood it.”
Other Student: “[Teacher], don’t you want our class to win the pizza party? Why not quiz [My Name]?”
Teacher: “Don’t encourage him to lie, [Student]! But fine…”
(She opened to a random page and asked me about the records on the page. While I had trouble pronouncing the names, I was able to relay the information about the records as they stood in that year. This went on for five minutes.)
Teacher: “I can’t believe it.” *to the other students* “You all saw it, right?” *they all nod and say yes* I’ll need to talk it over with the principal.”
(She had a conference with the principal on the matter and he, being a friend of my family, wasn’t surprised. In fact, the whole thing amused him greatly. He pulled me aside after school was out for the day.)
Principal: “[My Name], did you honestly read the Guinness Book of World Records?”
Me: “Not all of it. I still have fifty pages to go.”
Principal: “[My Name], that’s amazing. But you can’t do that every time there’s a reading contest. It’s unfair to the rest of the students. Understand?”
Me: “I do, [Principal].”
Principal: “Good. You’re free to go. I’ll see you at the pizza party.”
(Our class won the pizza party. However, I received a letter from the promotion afterwards saying that I wasn’t allowed to participate the next time.)
Friend: “Wait, [My Name], what’s your last name? I forgot.”
Me: “What’s the whitest name you can think of?”
Friend: “Smith!”
Me: “Yes.”