the deal with high school teachers confuses me. here i am with friendly teachers, not knowing how i should be talking to them, as a pal or as an elder. it’s a strange contradiction in the educational setting. the good teachers, mind you, are the ones who would rather be your friend than a symbol of authority that overwhelms your every action and word in class.

an example of this confusion is today, when a male teacher of mine commented my report card:

teacher x: ready for your report card?
me: pretty much. i’m just worried about my math mark.
teacher x: you should be worrying about the mark that you get in my class.
me: shut up! (jokingly shove mr. x)

after this happened, i felt really dirty. this wouldn’t be called flirting, would it? because that definitely wasn’t my intention. but immediately after the confrontation, i felt slimy, although no thoughts of attraction passed through my consciousness at all. it was strictly platonic. just the thought of reacting to my teacher’s wry comments in such a friendly manner made my conscience do a 180 on the situation.