I ended up dropping out of high school. I'm a high school dropout, which I'm not proud to say, ... I had some teachers that I still think of fondly and were amazing to me. But I had other teachers who said, 'You know what? This dream of yours is a hobby. When are you going to give it up?' I had teachers who I could tell didn't want to be there. And I just couldn't get inspired by someone who didn't want to be there
I was a big kid my whole life. I grew up among big people. My brother was a big kid. I didn't really feel like a big kid. Except for the teachers, who pretty much didn't want me to squish any of the other kids.
I loathed school. I don't have an academic mind, and besides I was so bored by my teachers! How teachers can take a child's inventiveness and say yes, yes, in that pontifical way of theirs, and smother everything!
I got lucky. To be frank, I was surrounded by white teachers who never did the whole, 'You're never going to amount to nothing' thing you hear about in the South. Instead, they would say, 'You're really smart. You can do this.' If I hadn't gotten that, I don't know where I'd be.
The first thing required of a teacher is that he be rightly disposed for his task.
I had teachers who I could tell didn't want to be there. And I just couldn't get inspired by someone who didn't want to be there.
Nowadays there is no conversation at all. Teachers distrust talk as much as business men.
If the attitude of the teacher toward the material is positive, enthusiastic, committed and excited, the students get that. If the teacher is bored, students get that and they get bored, quickly, instinctively.
Teachers try to make us feel lower than themselves, maybe because this is because they feel lower than outside people. One teacher told me to get out of the room and never come back, which I did.
I did have a love for literature that overpowered my hatred of the people who taught it, and I think because I had no respect for the teachers, their attitude didn't poison the writing that I was discovering for myself.
