Posted on Sep 12 Once, a young boy received a book as a gift from his grandparents. The boy's grandpa loved to play the accordion, so it was no surprise that the book was called 'Jaunasis pianistas' (The Young Pianist). However, it was still magical to the boy. He had been dreaming of learning how to play since he first saw the instrument. The excitement couldn't be held any longer. He turned the first page.'The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled,' he read on the first page. It was the foreword to a Teacher.But this is not a story about learning piano or music. It's a story about teachers and teaching.In my 6th grade, I had to choose a secondary language at school. Between German and Russian, the first one looked more interesting to me. So I chose it. What I didn't know is that for the next 5 years, I would have to endure a teacher who smiled at the beginning of the lesson and screamed at the end. She got angry when somebody made a mistake and called people idiots when they couldn't remember new words.Five years is a long time. She did manage to fill my head with German words and grammar rules. But along with that, she filled me with pure anger towards the language and everything related to it.At the end of the 10th grade, she came to us with her typical fake smile, saying how much fun it would be if we chose German for higher grades. Finally, I could tell her what I thought in her own language.The last 12 years were enough not only to bury the words I used to know but also the hatred. Yesterday, I took the book again and started 'den Staub entfernen' (to dust off). It took me 12 years to get back to the starting point. For those who still have a "but" in their heads, I emphasize: a bad teacher can't teach you anything, even in 17 years (I think we could safely approximate this to a lifetime.)Was I the only one? No, I wasn't. My friends experienced the same frustration, and my classmates endured similar difficulties. Even the younger pupils were not spared from the challenges. Among them was my brother, who is ten years younger than me. He, too, had the misfortune of "learning" from the same "teacher." Later on, he switched schools but unfortunately ended up with an even worse teacher. I did try to advise him to choose a different secondary language, but like me, he wanted to learn German."Yesterday, I mentioned to him that I had started learning the language again. He gave me a long, deep look, but with all my effort, I couldn't decipher what was happening in his head.'The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.' - Plutarch.Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well Confirm For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse Anthony Nanfito - Aug 20 J.R. de Guzman - Aug 20 Sergii Lysenko - Aug 9 Julia 👩🏻‍💻 - Aug 18 Once suspended, Apetryla will not be able to comment or publish posts until their suspension is removed. Once unsuspended, apetryla will be able to comment and publish posts again. Once unpublished, all posts by apetryla will become hidden and only accessible to themselves. If apetryla is not suspended, they can still re-publish their posts from their dashboard. Note: Once unpublished, this post will become invisible to the public and only accessible to Aidas Petryla. They can still re-publish the post if they are not suspended. Thanks for keeping DEV Community safe. Here is what you can do to flag apetryla: apetryla consistently posts content that violates DEV Community's code of conduct because it is harassing, offensive or spammy. Unflagging apetryla will restore default visibility to their posts. DEV Community — A constructive and inclusive social network for software developers. With you every step of your journey. Built on Forem — the open source software that powers DEV and other inclusive communities.Made with love and Ruby on Rails. DEV Community © 2016 - 2023. We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.