Perfectly Human Written By: Niki Ishikawa

I made it through the first week of my new career. While the first day was nerve wracking and unfamiliar, as the week went on, each day got easier and easier. By the last day of the week I began to feel comfortable with what is expected of me and what I have ahead of me. And then there is the nagging thought of actually having students in my classroom. It makes me nervous all over again just thinking of it. 

I can’t believe I am going to be in charge of teaching high school students. Me? I was a horrible student in high school. I missed something like 30 days in the last quarter of my senior year. Obviously school wasn’t my priority at that time. I’m not sure how exactly I graduated, I remember the threat of not being allowed to graduate because I had more than 10 unexcused absences for the year. Ha! I had more than 10 unexcused absences in the last quarter. Yet, somehow, the administration still let me graduate. Maybe because I was passing all of my classes? Maybe because I had doctor’s notes and other life excuses? Maybe my teachers took pity on me, because they knew what I was capable of? I remember at the time thinking the year book entry from my senior history teacher was so funny. She wrote, “For somebody who doesn’t go to school, you have done great!” But there was truth in her statement. I didn’t go to school and I did do well, or at least as well as I could for never being there. Imagine what I could have done if I was there.

Unfortunately my bad habits of poor attendance followed me into college. I continued going through school either showing up really late for class, or not attending at all. I continued getting by with doctor’s excuses and other personal excuses. It’s a wonder I ever learned anything my first time through college, let alone the fact that I earned a degree. I half-assed my way through my teens and early twenties. 

I think that’s part of the reason it was so important for me to go back to school and get a second degree. I was tired of living my life half-assed. After taking a few years off of school and working in the real world, I realized that I wasn’t happy with where I was both mentally and physically. I decided in the summer of 2008 it was time for a major change, beginning with what it was I did all day everyday. I figured whatever I did for a living, I should be passionate about it, since I would be spending so much of my life doing it. It was then that I decided I wanted a do-over in college. I wanted to go to school for something I loved and I wanted to actually attend class this time and do the best I could do. Isn’t that a novel idea?

It was during my second semester back in school, that I recall laughing at myself and telling my family, “it’s amazing how easy school is, if you actually go to class. You just show up and discuss what you’ve read and you learn it. Imagine that? Crazy, right?” So maybe I’m a slow learner? It only took me until I was 27 years old to learn that going to class, makes learning simple. I guess it really doesn’t matter when I learned that, what matters is that I did finally learn it. That being said, since then I’ve had great attendance both at work and school, only being absent for true emergencies, not because I felt like sleeping in or found something more fun to do. I admit, I do still struggle sometimes with my tardiness, but I’m working on that. And this past week, I am proud to say three out of four of the days I worked I was early.

So maybe I wasn’t the best high school student, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be a bad high school teacher. If anything, it gives me life experiences that I have learned from and now know exactly what not to do. After all I am perfectly human. I do know one thing, I will be sure to show up everyday, on time, prepared to teach my classes and that is the very least that I can do for my students.