BY RYAN FIELDS
I believe a very overlooked aspect in our school is the treatment of our youngest teachers . These being English teacher Ms. Reilly and Mathematics teacher Mrs. Mock (Formerly known as the artist Ms. Block). I took a half an hour to talk to these two teachers and to discuss the difficulties of being young women in a high school full of hormonal young men.
What I found in my interviews was interesting. My feeling going into the discussion was that they would talk a lot about senior boys and junior boys and the awkwardness that goes with the subtle flirting my fellow classmates must do. What I realized was just how professional these two women are. Ms. Reilly told me how she came from an all girls school (St. Ursula) so she grew up surrounded by powerful women such as herself, and that contributed to her self esteem.
On the other side, Ms. Mock told me how she started at Indian Hill and felt she had to rule a little more with an iron fist early on to get respect. “Sadly, as a young teacher, you have to put up a bit of a wall and protect yourself and your personal life. You also have to set the tone. Most students really enjoy having young teachers they can relate to, but they also tend to push the limits and not always be respectful.”
The sad truth of the give-and-take with young teachers was revealed to me after hearing Mrs. Mock’s perspective.
The two talked a lot about setting examples for students and the stress that brings. “It’s hard when students look at you even more closely because you are close to their age. You feel like every move you make is under a microscope and being evaluated,” says Ms. Reilly. There isn’t much room for error when you handle six bells a day and still try to manage a social life. In addition, being the kind-hearted teachers they are in offering their assistance, they are hounded with requests by the higher ups in the faculty. Mrs. Mock told me about her first job teaching at That School on Drake Road.
“My first year of teaching was at Indian Hill High School, and I remember before I even started the school year the principal called and asked me to be Sophomore Class Advisor and a swim coach. Although these were both fun, they required a lot of outside time, which I did not have my first year. My second year of teaching, I taught at CCDS and I was coaching 3 sports. One of which I knew nothing about! (Rowing). Needless to say, when I decided to teach at MHS, I made a conscious decision that I finally needed to learn to say “NO”. Like I said before, as much as you like to do it all, you simply can’t be a good teacher while doing 100 other things at the same time.”
On the bright side, and as I think any students that have seen these two wonderful teachers grow can agree, the duo has caught their stride as teachers. Mrs. Mock, now in her 4th year at Mariemont, helps lead Mariemont’s very successful Student Council. Ms. Reilly, on the other hand, helps Mariemont run our Junior and Senior Prom as the Junior Class Advisor. They both work in two very strong departments at Mariemont High and have set examples for not only the young women in our school but anyone who desires to excel in their career.
At the end of the day, we are all people. We all (at least most of us) try to do our jobs to our best ability and try to be better than the day before. We all have errors. Teachers are not machines. They have social lives and families and things they aspire to do besides work. As a sub par student, I realize how easy it is to jump the gun at teachers especially ones that seem to be almost our age.
I encourage my fellow classmates to fight this urge and realize just how hard these two powerful human beings work at being the best teachers they can be. For that matter, how hard all of our teachers work here at MHS. Take this article as an official invitation to give Ms. Reilly and Mrs. Mock a big thank you today because you really do not know how much goes on behind the scenes for these two women.
