AISHWARYA, Bellevue, Washington, USA

Middle School Student
Indian 
Female 


Q: What do you have in common with your teachers? 

A: I moved to America when I was three so I was brought up here, even though I was born in India. 

Most of my teachers have been American. I only had one Indian teacher and that was in preschool. I did not have a larger understanding of race culture and religion back then so it did not make a great impact in my life. If I had an Indian teacher now or in elementary school, it would have been different because my parents and the teacher could talk it over and have more in common. 

So there is not much I had in common with my teachers other than being female. 

For some people, teachers of the same gender can understand them better. However, that was not the case for me. I never really connected with my teachers most of the time. I was an average student who didn't have any problems. I never had too many personal or exiting things to share with my teachers. The only difficult thing was probably was being of a different race and religion. My family has a special way to do things. There are also some things in my religion that we do.


Q: Does it matter that students and teachers have things in common? 

A:  Yes, I does matter because teachers need to connect with students to help with any problem they are facing. When students connect with teachers, teachers can understand the student and figure out a way to help them. That is why teachers are here, they guide students to become great successful people.

Sometimes kids are afraid to talk to teachers because they worry they might be judged because they do not have that necessary bond. The student can end up in lots of pain. 


Photo (c) 2017 Kristin Leong

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