A Fifth Grade School Dropout

It was the first day of school and we lined up on the school steps and Mr. Hile read out the teacher's list of who was in which class. When I heard my name and Mrs. Woods was to be my teacher, I walked home. I was quitting school. IT WAS NOT FAIR!!!! All four of my older siblings had had Ms. Fritz, ridden in her Caddy convertible, had parties, and generally played in fifth grade....and I got Miss Woods! Oh, the injustice of it! How had I offended the gods? Miss Woods was the MEAN teacher.
When I got home and informed my mother that I had quit school, she just kinda shrugged and said "Well, you will have to tell your father when he gets home". That night I pled my case to my father and he said, "Go to bed, we will talk about this in the morning". When morning came he said, "I've decided you can quit school, but you will have to go tell Mr. Hile."
This was more than just a little scary...this was major fright, but better than being in Miss Wood's class. I waited til everyone was in their classroom, crept up to the office and asked to see Mr. Hile. He had me sit in one of his high-backed, leather wingchairs that made me feel like Alice in Wonderland after she took the shrink pill. Mr. Hile reminded me of Abe Lincoln...bushy eyebrows and so tall! Anyway, he said, "I hear you are quitting school". "Yes", I explained, "you gave me the MEAN teacher and it's just not fair". He agreed it was not fair and that I was probably justified in quitting school, but said that the only way he could approve my disenfranchisement was if I would go explain to Miss Woods WHY I could not be in her class.
Now THIS was a problem. I was terrified...horror movies seemed tame compared to this assignment. Meet the devil in her den? I was shaking all over when I knocked on her classroom door. She was thin, white haired and very bird-like in appearance...her beak peeked out the door and I asked to talk to her privately. In a few minutes she came out in the hall and I told her I was quitting school because I didn't want to be in her class. When she asked why, I replied, "Because you are the MEAN teacher!". "How do you know? you've never been in my class!" she said. I just looked at her in surprise and said, "EVERYONE knows you are the MEAN teacher!!!".
She suggested that it was very silly of me to take other people's word for it and that I should come into her class for one week before I decided that she was MEAN. I agreed that was a fair offer ....made sense to me. So, in I went. Within days I discovered that she was the best teacher I had ever had....but there was no way I was going to admit it so when Friday rolled around and I stayed after class to give her my "report" I said that I was going to need more time to make up my mind and asked for another week. This went on for the rest of the school year. Every Friday I would tell her I needed more time. It didn't take me long to figure out that i was her "pet" and she let me do grown up errands for her, etc ...she even let me have my birthday party in the classroom....my mother brought cupcakes and ice cream...an unheard of event.
Many years later my father confessed that he had had a conversation with Mr. Hile and he told him to expect a visit from me. He told him exactly what to tell me and knew that I would give Miss Woods a fair chance. Don't think that would happen today.
When I graduated from teachers' college I was asked to give the commencement speech and I told this story admonishing the teachers-to-be that if they could keep a student WANTING to come back on Monday...they were a good teacher.