Teacher vs. Friend

Today in class when Dr. Luongo was talking about the need to be a teacher, and no longer a friend in the classroom reminded me of one of my high school teachers. I had the same math teacher for two years, and both years it was the same deal. The first day of class he explained the week to us:
Monday--no teaching since it was a Monday, so we would just talk.
Tuesday--some work, but not much.
Wednesday--a little more learning than Tuesday, but not really.
Thursday--getting ready for the weekend, so we'll either have quizzes or hang out.
Friday-- since he didn't have class on Fridays in college, he didn't think we should have them in high school.

I was a little bit of a nerd in high school, and actually liked math. In 8th grade I was pushed up a level so my sophomore and junior years in his math class, I was with juniors and seniors who were fine with this schedule. So I took advantage the days we did work. I was the only student who understood the material, and would answer whenever he asked a question, and was the only one to do so. The days that we didn't have class, I would do the homework, or some extra work from the textbook. Eventually, he told me to stop raising my hand because he wanted the rest of the class to have a chance to answer. But why would the rest of the class do their work, when he didn't do his? That marking period he told me to stop raising my hand, I gave up and got a C, after getting A's in math every other quarter ever since I can remember.

The students who wanted a friend rather than a teacher benefited from his classroom, since they didn't have to do anything. But it hurt the students who were actually in school to learn (imagine that...). So that's just another example of why teachers have to teach, because there are actually students who want to learn.

(P.S. Sorry for the rambling, I guess I have some repressed anger about my only C in math, lol)