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Mr. Stanton

Mr. Stanton by Adam Shand

Dennis Stanton was my 9th grade math teacher. Sitting in class on that first day of high school I was having a hard time reconciling the last two years of stories with the reality of what was standing in front of me. This monster of Soquel High School was a short, round, blonde man who appeared to have more in common with a teddy bear than the demon I had been led to expect.

Over the next weeks I learned to hate him. He issued lunch time detentions for being late, for getting answers wrong on homework. He mocked students, threw chalk, raged at laziness and carelessness. One by one he drove the kids from his class who didn’t want to work. I had a mixed past with math and I think it was only pride which kept me from fleeing his class.

But then this magical thing happened. Once all of the kids who wouldn’t work were gone, he softened into the most inspiring teacher I ever had. He told stories, encouraged us, pushed us, accepted nothing but the best we had to offer.

Today in a workshop I was asked to name a mentor and tell a story about why they were important to me. From out of nowhere came Mr. Stanton’s name and with it a flood of memories.

He taught me that people can be more than one thing. That a monster can also be a teddy bear. That a “jerk” can also be inspiring. He shared his life with us, unapologetically and without consideration for appropriateness. He treated us like adults who were worthy of both his scorn and his respect.

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how my time in the film industry effected (and continues to effect) me. It’s been pointed out to me repeatedly that I haven’t done much that’s “productive” since I left. Mostly I’m just fine with that, but I’ve known for a while that there’s more to the story. With a jolt the other day, I realised that part of what has followed me from Weta is a belief that work is futile. That it doesn’t matter how hard I work. That no matter how much effort I put in, no matter how much I prepare, no matter how clever I am, it will come to nothing. Regardless of what I do, forces of chaos, insurmountably greater than me, will prevail.

Right now, I can go back to Mr. Stanton and remember that he was the first person in my life who taught me that it mattered how hard I worked. It wasn’t a lesson I wanted to learn then, and it’s not a lesson I want to re-learn now, but I will.

So thank you Mr. Stanton, all those miles and years away. I hope you’re well and I hope that kids are still learning to believe in themselves because of you.

journal posted on 17 Nov 2018 in #inspiring, #reflecting & #teaching

4 comments

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Lovely story, thanks!

Posted on 27 Jan 2023 by Adam Shand
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Absolutely right! Really only two teachers deserve full credit for being a great teacher. Mr. Stanton was my algebra and geometry teacher in 9th and 10th grade in 78' and 79'. He was making the newsboys afraid by smacking a pool stick up against the chalkboard and yelling like all hell. Today he would probably have to do some anger management. The classroom teacher hated him for disrupting his class. His methods worked! One kid named Triplot got 99% of the humiliation though. We did not want that for us, so we met with others in the class in the library to compare our homework. We got to like it and get good at it. After the first month he showed us how nice he really was like sponsoring and letting us in a backgammon club have BBQ'S on some weekends. Bottom line he was a teacher that knew how to get young kids to learn algebra. Something I never needed to use.

Posted on 7 Jan 2023 by Kevin Riddle
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Hi Stephen, nice to hear from you! :-) You were there a good few years before me (my family moved to New Zealand in the middle of high school, but I would have been class of '91). Not surprised in the slightest but lovely to hear how he influenced your life as well. It reminds me of how one person can make a difference. Best wishes from NZ. Adam.

Posted on 23 Dec 2020 by Adam Shand
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Mr Stanton, I’m still learning from what he taught back in 1972. Long story short, he knew I had a gift for math, even though I was failing all of my other classes. I took 5 classes with him as a math teacher. He coached me to tutor special ed students with their need to learn math. He also had a vision about how mankind would get lazy using the calculator, which now is called “smartphone”. I wonder if Mr Stanton would have called it “dumb phone”? I miss him. Hopefully he retired and toured America on his Honda Goldwing. Stephen Hansen class of 1977

Posted on 23 Dec 2020 by Stephen Hansen
Copyheart 1994–2024 Adam Shand. Sharing is an act of love.