The student/teacher relationship School is part of everyone's life at one time or another. Whether you only went to high school, college, or university, it's something everyone has done at some point. So far, I have been in school for most of my life, and during that time I have had different teachers. Some of the professors I had encouraged me to think for myself, and others required me to memorize large amounts of data in order to reproduce that data on tests. It's hard to say which teachers I learned the most from. But I know I always thought that teachers are people who hold absolute power over you, after all, they hold the key to your success or failure. For this reason, I don't think I've ever been absolutely honest in anything I said in an assignment or a class discussion, because I was afraid it wasn't what the professor wanted me to say. Is this fair? Is this what the relationship between teachers and students should be? Should students feel so overwhelmed by the power of teachers that they can no longer stand up for what they believe or what they feel? If not, what can teachers do to get rid of this question of power and encourage students to truly express their opinions freely? Or can a teacher have both the power and ability to get students to freely express what they think? In Lynne Cheney's essay, PC: Alive and Renched, she talks about the relationship between students and teachers, and how teachers use their power to advance their own ideas. beliefs and ideas. She cites various examples of how teachers of first-year English composition courses use the course to promote their own feminist beliefs. A quote from a student said: "My teacher......is a feminist and she incorporates her idea...... middle of paper...... live and take relationships, students playing the equally important role of a teaching role. Often, I would arrive in class only to find half the students talking, sleeping, or not participating in class. I imagine this would be frustrating for a teacher who is actually trying to teach. just like a friendship or romantic relationship, it doesn't work if both people don't put effort into it. If both parties participate and are fully invested, then teachers will be able to teach and students will learn. Cite Cheney, Lynne. “PC: Alive and entrenched”. The presence of others Eds Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz New York: St Martins Press, 1997 Zawodniak, Christian. Presence of others. Eds Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz New York: St Martins Press., 1997