Is a teacher’s ability to relate well with the students more important than the ability to teach them welt? My answer to this question is definitely negative. In my experience, my best teachers have been people who did not relate to the students but who instead managed to teach the class a lot.

　　Teachers are not being paid to be friends with students but should instead be filling them with information. I am not interested in hanging out with a teacher but am only concerned with what he can teach me. During my school years, I have had many teachers who were not friendly to the students. In fact, some students were quite intimidated by them. The students would never have dreamed of talking to these teachers about personal matters. However, these teachers were some of the best I ever had. The lessons they taught me have stayed with me for years, and I have never forgotten their classes. In fact, some of them even influenced me to study more on my own outside of class. With these teachers, the fact that they were unfriendly had nothing to do with how much learned in their classes.

　　Additionally, teachers who try to be friendly with the students are often the worst ones I have ever had. These teachers are typically more concerned with being cool and having students like them, so they do not focus on teaching, which makes their classes complete wastes of time. Here is one example. One of my teachers in high school had only graduated from college a few years earlier. So he was not much older than the students. He thought he could be friends with the students and hang out with them. Unfortunately, when he tried to enforce discipline in the classroom, everyone ignored him. Also, since he was more concerned with his image, he never taught very demanding lessons. He almost never gave homework, and his tests were easy. While getting a high grade was nice, I realized I had learned almost nothing in his class and that it had been a waste of time. Because of him, I realized that having a cool teacher is less important than having a teacher who takes his classes seriously.

　　In conclusion, I strongly feel it is better for a teacher to pass on knowledge to the students than to be able to relate well to them since it is what he is paid for, and at least it will keep him from being a bad teacher. A teacher that relates well might be fun for a while, but I go to school to learn, not to hang out with a teacher and be friends with him.