I grew up in a very strict, evangelical community. Because I’m a woman, my mother did everything she could to sabotage my education because she didn’t believe it was important for me. I loved school, but I often couldn’t do my homework because she didn’t want me to succeed. She wouldn’t buy school supplies or anything I needed for projects. She wouldn’t let me wear normal bras (only training bras I couldn’t fit into). As a punishment, she wouldn’t buy me pads, and I had to use toilet paper. She wouldn’t let me shave my legs, and then would force me to wear shorts to school to embarrass me. She made me wear ridiculous clothes and wear my hair in an embarrassing way. She searched my room often, and she constantly accused me of doing things I didn’t do. She accused me of being a liar constantly. I was so terrified of her that I was too afraid to hide anything from her, so I didn’t try to get out of these situations because I was terrified that she’d somehow find out. As a punishment, she wouldn’t pay for my lunch at school or allow me dinner. Several students I knew actually went to counselors with concerns. My teachers did not care in the slightest. And my school did absolutely nothing about it. One of my teachers who disliked me because I didn’t do my work told me she seriously thought I’d be “nothing but a teen mother.”

I ended up moving across the country, went to grad school, and became a lecturer. I had some great professors when I went to college, and I was inspired to go into teaching, myself. And, I also went into teaching specifically because of some horrible teachers who didn’t care. I used to watch the movie Matilda and wish I had a teacher like Ms. Honey who cared about me. But then I had the thought that maybe I’m supposed to be “Ms. Honey” to someone else. So that’s what I’m doing with my life.