"I really don't want to hear it." What meaning and impact these words can have, especially when said by a teacher to a student. I had approached my teacher to contest the answer to a question on the previous day's test. I was ready to prove my point, and I was armed with research I had dug up the night before. But she just shrugged me off, "Go write to the company." In other words, she didn't want to bother listening.

My teacher, without even thinking it through, accepted the answer in the book as the absolute only correct answer to that question. In doing this, and in denying all other opinions, she is discouraging creative thinking. She is saying there is only one way to do something,her way! Cursed be that person who dares to think differently!

She told me I did well on the test, so eight points didn't matter. Or did they? If I steal a pack of gum, worth forty cents, from a store that takes in thousands of dollars each day, would it matter? My teacher apparently did not think so. People cheat on their taxes, which I suppose is okay since the government takes in millions of dollars anyway. What's a few thousand here or there? This is what my teacher seemed to be implying.

Also, but not listening to another's point of view, my teacher seemed downright close-minded. This is exactly what leads to prejudice. What an example she is setting for her students. Perhaps if Austria had not ignored Britain's initial proposals for peace, World War I could have been prevented. This disregard led to the deaths of millions!

There seems to be so little participation and input in government and society today. Perhaps this is because teachers, like mine, imply that our opinions don't matter, that if we think something is wrong we should just keep quiet. My teacher seems to be saying that my ideas and my research are insignificant and unimportant, so much so that she was not going to be inconvenienced by listening. To me, this is the worst form of insult.n