What's the biggest don't judge a book by its cover moment you have seen?

What's the biggest don't judge a book by its cover moment you have seen?

I began my career as a high school teacher with the mindset that you don’t ever judge a student by their appearance or circumstances. You simply allow them to prove themselves. You give everyone an equal shot, and you push relentlessly for their success. That mindset has served me well over a 30-year career. I’ve taught brilliant math students of all socioeconomic backgrounds, all genders, all ethnicities, all types of disabilities, and every imaginable appearance.

The story of Derrick

Despite me being so open-minded, Derrick was certainly a challenge early in my career. I was teaching algebra at an inner-city school, and this young man walked into my room on the first day of school. He stood 6′3″, with ample tattoos, a known gang member and drug dealer according to the warnings of my principal. His gang had taken a metal coat hanger, bent it into the shape of their gang insignia, held it over fire until scorching hot, and permanently branded each member with it. I had never heard of such a thing. The scar was visible on his upper bicep. He looked about 25.

Nobody wanted to teach Derrick, and they were thankful for his frequent absences. Sure, I was worried about him disrupting the learning environment of my class, as his previous history indicated. But I welcomed the challenge and vowed to myself that I would give him the same opportunity for success as everyone else.

(This picture is perhaps the closest match from Google Images of Derrick’s appearance. In fact, it’s so shockingly similar it could be his twin, but it’s not him.)

My approach to Derrick

I followed my typical teaching style, adding humor to every class, casting aside the mundane problems in the textbook and presenting my own fascinating, real-life applications of math to pique the students’ interest and make mathematics come alive. Disruptive in the early weeks, Derrick started becoming interested. Eventually, he even started taking notes and participating in class. Somehow, I had found a way to connect to a student that no one else could reach, using relevant and applicable problems and making the subject entertaining and fun. And of course always being welcoming and friendly to everyone. It doesn’t work with every student I’ve taught, but it worked with most. And it seemed to be working with Derrick!

Derrick transforms

By the third chapter, he was fully engaged. I was pleasantly surprised, but ever confident I could win him over if I tried hard enough. One day after class, he mentioned to me that the reason he was now attending school every day was just to see what was going to happen next in my class. He enjoyed my style and all the interesting problems. I was thrilled!

At the end of the chapter, Test 3 came around. Derrick hadn’t even completed the first two tests of the year. But he completed this one. I went home to grade them that evening, and Derrick made a perfect score, in fact the only one in the class. On Test 4, he didn’t miss a single problem either. No, he wasn’t cheating. This was legitimate understanding! The streak continued for the rest of the year. It turns out that Derrick was freakishly good at mathematics!

When I had conversations with him after class, he would make very insightful connections to the problems we were doing. He was miles beyond the other students, not just the students in that class, but the students in all of my classes combined among some 200 students! He didn’t look like a scholar, he didn’t speak like one either, but who cares? That doesn’t matter. All I want my students to do is give their best attempt and never give up in my class. And that’s precisely what Derrick was doing. He had become one of my academic superstars and one of my favorite students to teach!

The rest of high school

At the end of the year, he thanked me. The following year, he became a better student. He would always say hello in the hallway, lean in the doorway and tell my students they better listen to me or he’d beat them up (jokingly, I think). He kept up that tough persona around his classmates, but was very genuine when he thanked me for inspiring him. I’m not sure when he quit gang life, probably after high school, but he got into a small college with a full scholarship. I wrote one of his recommendation letters. Someone else must have believed in him to give him a chance when they accepted him into their institute of higher learning.

What happened to Derrick?

I always wondered what happened to him. I finally had an answer in 2012. Derrick found me online many years after I taught him. He thanked me again, and told me he was now an accountant with a very good salary. He was able to live in a safe neighborhood, drive a nice car, and even bought his mother a small house so she could move out of the small apartment in the tough neighborhood where Derrick and his siblings were raised. Why should we not judge a book by its cover, especially when you’re an educator? Because hiding inside that gruff and intimidating exterior was a future accountant - and a darn good one at that - and all he needed was someone to believe in him. I’ve been blessed to see many success stories over decades of teaching, but this one might be the most dramatic of them all!

I only deserve a sliver of credit, most of which should go to Derrick for taking control of his life in a positive manner. Any time I think of the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” I instantly think of Derrick. I treated him just like all my students, welcomed him into my class, got him excited about math, and the rest was all Derrick. Don’t give me any praise, just be happy for him. And please, don’t anyone judge others before you get to know them.

I still correspond with Derrick today.