Since the beginning of the public school system, there have been the teacher’s pets. We’ve all encountered them. They’re the students who kiss up to teachers in order to receive benefits that not all students get, whether that is a good grade, or more time for a project, or even bonus points to boost the student’s final grades. In recent times, the stigma around a teacher’s pet have led the school systems to sweep the entire topic under the rug.

Other than the grade boosts, students have other reasons to fight for the position of teacher’s pet. We have all had a teacher that is inspiring to us, who seems to be above and beyond a wonderful instructor. Who is amazing and captivates our attention. It could be their teaching style, or their amazing personality. We tend to revolve around teachers like that. Teachers that are more than willing to give us the boost of support we need. We want their approval, and teacher’s pets, more often than not, get it. To some people, it’s more about the attention than anything. To other people, it’s a way to do less work for more points. They get on a teacher’s good side early on so that the teachers are more likely to ignore a few mistakes here and add a few points to a grade there. 

For me it was none of those.

2008, my kindergarten year, was full of happy smiles and sticky fingers. In my opinion, kindergarten was the peak of my existence. Due to my rigorous daycare training (complete with the ABC’s AND the 123’s), I was well prepared for my elementary school career. I carried my bright purple backpack and school supplies (complete with my sparkly glitter pens) through the doors into the welcoming arms of bright faced teachers. 

I think teachers favored me because unlike all of the other kids, I was really quiet. I spent my time reading whimsical books and writing silly stories. I was somewhat of a doormat, everyone walked all over me. I was too sweet, and too sheltered for public school. 

I studied really hard and I prided myself on being smart. I had big, very unrealistic dreams of going places. Teachers saw my spirit and I feel like I naturally gravitated towards the position of teacher’s pet.  They knew they could rely on me to be the good kid when their day was tough. 

The gap between me and other kids only grew wider with this. Before long, I didn’t even feel like I belonged to that class, at that school, with those people. I felt like I had somehow fallen into a deep dark pit, somewhere I was unable to get out of. I felt completely separated from the other kids my age. They saw how the teachers treated me, and I think a part of them was jealous of me, all because of a special privilege that I didn’t even ask for. 

In my opinion, there are certain teachers that favor certain students, but I believe that I haven’t witnessed it as much in recent years. Whether it was the change from junior high to high school or it just phased out is something I’m unsure of. But coming from a different high school, transferring to Cy-Falls was like a breath of fresh air. The school is a lot closer than the one I previously attended, and I really do believe teachers try their best to treat everyone fairly.