good teachers always make a difference

Good teachers have a way of becoming part of who we are long after we leave their classrooms. Some people remember their teachers only as names written on old report cards or faces attached to a particular year of schooling, but there are certain teachers whose influence reaches much further. I still think about my school teachers back in Johannesburg, even though many years have passed since I sat in those classrooms. They were some of the first people outside my parents who showed me encouragement and belief in myself. At an age when I was still discovering what I was capable of, they created an environment where learning felt exciting rather than intimidating. They didn’t just teach subjects from textbooks. They taught us curiosity, discipline, and the importance of doing your best even when it felt difficult. Looking back now as a university student, much of the way I approach learning today was shaped by those early experiences. The lessons they gave me extended far beyond the classroom walls.

When we were leaving South Africa, 11-year-old me struggled to say goodbye. I remember hugging my teachers and crying because I understood, even at that young age, that I was leaving people who had made a significant difference in my life. It wasn’t simply sadness about moving on to a new stage of life. It was the feeling of losing people who had supported me, disciplined me, challenged me, and helped me grow. I remember holding onto them because, in that moment, I didn’t have the words to explain how grateful I was. They had spent years teaching me, encouraging me, and making me feel seen. The fact that I cried while saying goodbye shows the kind of relationship they built with their students. They weren’t just people who delivered lessons and marked assignments. They were people who invested in us. Even now, when I occasionally think back to my time in Johannesburg, I remember their voices, their classrooms, and the way they made us feel safe and learning felt meaningful.

The impact of those teachers has followed me throughout my life. Now that I am at university, studying subjects that require independent thinking, research, and confidence, I can see the foundation they helped create. The way they encouraged questions taught me not to be afraid of curiosity. The way they praised effort taught me the importance of perseverance. The way they treated every student with care showed me that education isn’t only about information, but also about people. A teacher can influence the way a student sees themselves. When a teacher believes in a student, that belief can become something the student carries with them. Many years later, I still find myself remembering lessons they taught me, not necessarily specific facts or assignments, but the attitudes towards learning and growth that they encouraged. Their classrooms may be far behind me now, but their influence continues to appear in the way I approach challenges and people in my everyday life.

This experience wasn’t limited to my primary school years. I still remember my high school digital technology teacher, who is an American woman. Although she was my digital technology teacher, she became one of the strongest supporters of my writing. She acknowledged my publications and recognised a part of me that extended beyond the subject she was teaching. She also gave me the confidence to experiment with coding, which eventually allowed me to code the website for The Art Lens NZ without needing to pay someone else to create it for me. When it was announced that she would be leaving after Year 11, I cried harder than I expected because I knew I was losing someone who made such a positive impact on my life. What stood out to me was that she supported my writing more than my English teacher ever did. My English teacher, who is the HOD of English in my high school, often belittled me for putting in a lot of effort in my assignments and often failed to provide feedback on my schoolwork, despite regularly giving detailed feedback to my white classmates. Sometimes the person who believes in your potential is not the person you expect.

This is why good teachers are so important. Their work often extends beyond what can be measured through grades or academic achievements. A good teacher can inspire someone to pursue a passion, develop confidence, or believe they are capable of more than they initially thought. They can become the person who notices potential in a student before the student recognises it themselves. For many young people, school is where they spend a significant part of their childhood, meaning teachers have a unique opportunity to shape how students view themselves and the world around them. A teacher who creates a supportive classroom can transform education from something students simply endure into something they actively engage with. The influence of these teachers can remain for decades because they’re not only teaching lessons for an exam. They’re helping shape the people their students will become.

However, the opposite is also true. Just as good teachers can leave a lasting positive impact, bad teachers can leave lasting negative ones. A teacher has significant power because students often trust their authority and judgement. When that power is used carelessly or maliciously, it can dent a student’s confidence, motivation, and relationship with learning. A teacher who constantly humiliates students, dismisses their questions, or makes them feel incapable can create wounds that last for a lifetime. Sometimes, students don’t remember the content of a lesson, but the way a teacher made them feel while they were learning. A single comment from a teacher can stay with someone for years, either as encouragement they carry proudly or as criticism they continue to struggle with. Teachers occupy such an influential position, so the way they interact with students matters just as much as the subjects they teach.

I’ve seen the impact of harmful teaching through my brother’s experiences at school. His German teacher, a blonde German woman, once sent my brother and some other boys out of class after he nodded in response to another student saying hello. To enter the classroom, he was required to say a sentence in German. Still, the teacher became unnecessarily aggressive towards him about his pronunciation in a way that she didn’t display towards her white students. What was particularly noticeable was the pattern of difference in how she responded to him compared with other students. When white students were distracted, playing with their pencils, or not immediately working, they were met with concern. However, when my brother paused to think, needed extra time, or appeared unsure, he was shouted at to get back to work. This pattern extended beyond classroom behaviour. When other students asked for new vocabulary words or phrases to help them develop their German, the teacher provided support. But when my brother asked for new words, she told him that he was “getting too far ahead.”

When high-achieving white students asked for words or phrases they’d previously learned, she assisted them, but when my brother asked for similar help, she would announce to the class that he didn’t know the answer and suggest that someone should help him, creating the impression that he was stupid rather than supporting his learning. She also has a habit of hovering specifically around him while teaching, standing over him in a way she didn’t do with other students. There were moments where he was skipped during activities, such as when she asked students to make sentences for the roll and moved on before he had the chance to respond, despite him being first on the roll. When he wasn’t working, she would raise her voice at him, while a white student displaying the same behaviour would be met with concern.

Another example is my brother’s experience with his Year 8 form teacher. Throughout last year, my brother experienced discrimination by this teacher who targeted and undermined him. This teacher even went as far as conspiring with a blonde New Zealand woman who is the school’s accounts payable staff to bring my brother down. What was especially frustrating was that when my brother eventually expressed how this treatment had affected him through an email, the teacher claimed that he was hurt by what my brother had written. However, despite claiming to be affected by the message, he didn’t even respond to the concerns my brother had raised. There was no reflection, accountability, or attempt to understand why a student felt that way.

That teacher’s behaviour didn’t end there. During a project exhibition this year, my brother had been selected to interview the students about their projects for the school newsletter. While my brother was speaking with a student, his old Year 8 form teacher intentionally came over and interrupted the conversation. When my brother moved to another student, the teacher repeated the same behaviour. It happened several times, and it only stopped after my brother mirrored the same behaviour back towards him four times. What was striking was the hypocrisy of this teacher later asking my brother to “entertain” Year 7 and 8 students with his winning prepared reading during a break, despite being the same person who had ignored and failed to acknowledge that very same achievement my brother earned the previous year. It showed how some teachers are extremely miserable and will abuse their power to bully their students.

Bad teachers can sometimes teach students important lessons, even if unintentionally. A student who experiences a passive-aggressive teacher who lacks compassion may become more aware of the type of person they don’t want to be. They may develop an appreciation for those who treat others with kindness. However, this doesn’t excuse poor teaching or harmful behaviour. Students shouldn’t experience negativity to learn valuable lessons. The responsibility of a teacher is to create a space where students have the opportunity to succeed. Good teachers understand their influence goes beyond school and that every interaction with a student can leave an impression.

Many years later, I understand even more clearly how important a good teacher’s influence on their student is. University has taught me independence and challenged me in ways I never experienced as a child, but the foundation created by those early teachers remains. The confidence to ask questions, the willingness to keep trying, and the belief that learning can be meaningful are all things I carry with me. Good teachers leave behind pieces of themselves in their students, often without realising it. Bad teachers do the same. Every teacher can make a difference. The question is whether that difference will become a memory of encouragement or a memory of harm. For the teachers who made me feel capable, valued, and inspired, I will always be grateful, because their lessons continued long after the final school bell rang.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” — Henry Adams