Is it Nice or just Creepy to try to thank a teacher you had thirty years ago?

[Mike 03]

There has been a lot of poignant discussion here over the past few weeks about teachers. Teachers made more of an impact on my life than I can even say.

These discussions have really made me want to get in touch with my teachers, but it's been a long time and it has not been easy. Sometimes I think I'm being a little bit strange trying to get in touch with and thank a teacher I had in the late 1970s or early 1980s. But at the same time, they had more influence on my life than anyone else in my life, not even my parents.

It only seems fair. I wish I could tell them what they meant to me, but it's very hard to find out where they are now or if they are still (hopefully, god willing) still alive.

I LOVE TEACHERS!!!!!!!!


I would be dead were it not for teachers. I know it.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. I think it'd be nice, and they'd appreciate it

I come from a family of teachers, and they'd definitely appreciate it.

And, I had my life saved by a HS teacher. I'm good friends with her now. She came to my wedding and everything.

[RB TexLa]

2. I would think hearing from someone I haven't heard from in 10 years would be creepy

and warrent keeping a gun close by.

[Fresh_Start]

3. I vote for nice

unless you are going to thank them for doing something creepy

[GoesTo11]

4. I called a teacher once

He said "how did you get my number"?

[MichiganVote]

5. I did that once. She loved it. And she remembered me which I thought was a miracle.

[patrice]

6. It's a good deed that affects many others and teachers don't hear such very often.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. I've had kids thank me for teaching them things 30 years ago

Things I had no recollection of. It feels really good to know you made a difference.

[noamnety]

8. If you can do it without cyberstalking, do it.

I've sent a note of appreciation to a teacher I had a couple decades ago, got a nice note back - but they were still employed at the same school; it wasn't like I had to intrude on their privacy to find out how to contact them.

[rwheeler31]

9. I love teachers to,

[asdjrocky]

12. I caught that.

Funny.

[Seldona]

10. As a troubled youth, I had one teacher who tried.

He pulled me aside after class one day and asked me flat out why I was wasting my life. Of course, having my head firmly planted up my ass at the time, I took no heed.

Years later I saw him one day in the restaurant he now owns. He recognized me immediately and made a line for our table. I told him at the bar later I had thought of him many times over the years, and thanked him for being the only one to at least try. He did make me think, and that was what started me on the right road.

He didn't think it was a bit creepy. If they made that big an impact on you and you wish to share that, I don't think it's wrong. I think it is what the teacher deserves.

[BuyingThyme]

11. Way nice.

Just don't go all Cable Guy on 'em.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Are you crazy? Who wouldn't wanna hear that they helped someone, and they remembered it...

even after so much time?

Unless, perhaps it's something like "I was so hawt for you back then, I fantasized about you all day in class".

Possibly that wouldn't be so welcome.

:rofl:

[SheilaT]

14. I did that once.

Called my high school math teacher to tell him that I was taking another math course thirty years after his class, and making an A. He was pleased to hear from me.

[Nevernose]

15. Hearing that from a former student feels like the day my daughter was born.

The job sucks and the pay is shitty, and the vast majority of people work that job because they just love kids, and they know in their hearts that they're making a difference. Occasionally, one is lucky enough to hear "you made a difference in my life" and it's all suddenly worth it. It's what most teachers live for. Unless you've been a teacher, a good teacher, you can't really understand what it feels like.

I heard "you made a difference in my life" just yesterday from a former student, coincidentally, and all I can compare it to is how I felt when my daughter was born. I'm a grown man -- as a general rule I don't cry -- but as soon as that kid (now a grown man) left the room, I broke down. (And I'm still on Cloud 9!)

If you want to make a difference in a person's life just as profound as the one that was made in yours, look up an old teacher.

[BuyingThyme]

20. Great post.

:-)

[leftyclimber]

16. Think of it this way:

Someone you knew for a year way back when comes up to you many years later to tell you that year made a huge impression on their life and they have appreciated you ever since.

Wouldn't you feel good? I certainly would.

As a (college-level) teacher, I'm thrilled to death when students stop by to say hi a SEMESTER later. If they still thought of me thirty years after the fact, I'd be over the moon.

[Obamanaut]

17. I am on an email list of over 500 graduates of the first six years of my

high school (classes 1958 - '63.) There are monthly gatherings, email updates, reunions every 2 - 3 years with all those years participating. Among the participants in all those activities are teachers from those years. The teachers who participate know they are loved and respected - they are reminded often.

No, it is not creepy. Yes, it is nice, very nice. If you can, do it. You'll like it, and so will they - I've seen their faces.

[chollybocker]

18. Better still, relay your story to Regis or Ellen or Rachel Ray

and shower your teacher with fabulous prizes and merchandise. Get other classmates to sign the card and your teacher will understand what he/she meant to you....

[rurallib]

19. Handle it maturely and don't scare them to death

I am sure they would love it.

[nickyt]

21. I don't get how a sincere thank you could be anything but a fanTAStic gift

to give your poor, dear, overworked teachers!!

I think a snail mail letter/card would be the best way to go, and the more detail you include about the teacher the better (you know, all the things you remember about him/her). They could read it again and again and - oh, they'd love it.

For me, a phone call might be...hmm, a little awkward or something (though, I am on the shy side). But a lovely letter, oh, think of how much that would mean to your teachers!!

They kept your ass ALIVE?! Hell yeah, Mike! Find them and tell them that, please, and let us know how it turns out!

[Fire1]

22. By all means very nice!!

[FarLeftRage]

23. Sadly mine are all dead...

As I graduated from High School some 33 years ago.

At the time, I was a good student and was friendly with all of them.
The one teacher I never got to thank was my 4th grade teacher and she died tragically in a car accident in February, 1968.... what a terrible year that was... 1968.

So yeah, go for it.

[FLyellowdog]

24. Nice, of course. n/t

[countingbluecars]

25. I love hearing from former students!

I recently heard from a young man who was in my fourth grade class about 15 years ago. He had just arrived from Bosnia and spoke no English at the time. He wrote to thank me and to tell me that he had recently graduated from college and had become a US citizen. It warmed my heart!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

26. It's not creepy

But I would never consider invading someone's privacy with a phone call. That's just me, but I think that's invasive.

I've written lots of letters to teachers who made a difference, and they all responded in like manner, which made my effort most worthwhile.

As a teacher, I've loved hearing from students, as well. I've encountered students on the other side in legal matters, which was just delicious. I had some great students.

My favorite teacher, though, I wanted to do something more for her - she was an exquisite human being as well as a brilliant teacher - but she had passed away. So I dedicated a novel to her, and, when the book was published, I went to her grave (in my home town, a small place) with flowers and a copy of the title page and the dedication page. I folded them up into a really tiny packet, and tucked it down into the earth between the grass and the headstone.

Just so she'd know .........................

[gristy]

27. oh, my

:cry:

[espiral]

28. I do not think it creepy...

There is one teacher in particular whom I had recently tried
to find, just to write a note thanking her for her influence
on my life and my thinking. I could not find her forwarding
address; but if I had, I would have sent her the letter.

[cliffordu]

29. I am absolutely convinced I would have gone to prison for life if it hadn't been

for my third grade teacher.

[Hannah Bell]

30. nice. when you have a good impulse, never talk yourself out of it.

everyone wants to know they made a difference.

[customerserviceguy]

31. I deliberately sought out one of my teachers

when I found he had a vacation home in the faraway county that I had moved to. He chuckled, "Dave, you look so old!" I shot back, "Coach, we're all lucky to be looking older!" He nodded, and told me about teachers that I knew who had passed on.

I heartily recommend looking up your old teachers, you will both get a charge out of it.

[Mike 03]

32. Thank you for your advice.

I was able to contact one of my English teachers who was alone and dying of cancer, and it was so good to tell her what she meant to me.

As for the others, I think I'll keep trying to find them to thank them.

[Mike 03]

33. Self Deleted

[SeattleVet]

34. I contacted a teacher I had in 1971/72 by email.

I thanked him for everything he had done, and mentioned that what he taught me still made a difference in my life.

A couple of days later I got back one of the nicest emails I've ever received. He was thrilled to hear from me, and let me know that my email was definitely appreciated.

Go for it! The truly great teachers need to from us that they did, indeed, make a difference.

[earthboundmisfit]

35. Our high school Chemistry teacher from 30+ years ago is so beloved

by his former students that we set up a website in his honor:
http://www.weirdward.net

He founded a school club called the Fellowship of Heathen Chemists, which ended up having the largest membership of any club in school. He's 72 now - my siblings & I adopted him into our family several years ago after my sis ran into him at a reunion (he never had children of his own), and he now refers to himself as "The OddFather" of the family :) We also started having monthly Fellowship of Heathen Chemists breakfasts where former students from his 28 years of teaching drop by to visit and reminisce.

He always says "I don't want this to be about ME", but the fact of the matter is he had great impact on a lot of students.

[Kip Humphrey]

36. Appreciation & kindness is never creepy.

[old mark]

37. My sister is a teacher - 1st and 2nd grade - for over 20 years.

I am sure she would love it if one of her former students came back to talk with her.
FWIW, mom was a high school librarian, mom-in-law a college prof, sister -in- law teaches ESL at a community college, brother -in-lae teaches theater arts in a high school in NYC.


mark