“Please quiet down everyone, I need you to listen.”

Wait.

Hold on a second.

Did the teacher really have the audacity to tell me to quiet down? Who does she think she is? She can’t tell me what to do; it’s not like she’s trying to help me or anything.

No, I’m simply too good for this class. I’m obviously smart enough to learn everything I need to know without paying attention to what is going on around me. You know, I’m so confident in my capabilities that I’m going to do anything, anything at all, except for listen to the teacher. Yeah, that’s right Dumb-Ways-To-Die high score, you’re going down. That’s right desk, prepare to be drawn on. That’s right eyes, you stay closed; you don’t have anywhere better to look. Oh, hey Shaquanda, I see your text there, I’ll respond real quick… maybe I’ll even grace you with a Snapchat of my face and all its magnificence. Now that that is taken care of, I’m just going to turn to my classmate here and pick up our conversation where it left off…

No. Stop right there. Fellow students, that is not okay.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Whatever happened to the phrase, “treat others the way you wish to be treated?”

I know, believe me, I get that sometimes it can be hard to stay focused and pay attention in class, but we owe it to our teachers to try. They are people and people deserve respect, just as you and I do. Their whole purpose in class is to be there for us and help us succeed.

I think a shout out for our teachers is in order, for if I had to deal with the maturity levels we teenagers have, I would explode – but time and time again, they show us immense patience, and for that, thank you Liberty teachers.