Everyone has a teacher that influenced them. I have quite a few myself. For this list, I had to limit myself to one.
I ended up with Jean-Pierre Bacon, the mild-mannered math teacher I had in Secondary 4th grade (10th grade anywhere else in the world). I was a nerd with a strong leaning towards liberal arts and sciences. Though I trudged through math and had decided some two years before that I would become a computer engineer, I did not particularly enjoy doing math.
Yes, you can see that I was in a bind. I had decided on doing something I did not overly enjoy.
All that changed in 1989-90 when I became a pupil in Mr. Bacon's Math-414 (and then Math-434) class. For the first time since elementary school, I enjoyed math. He taught it in a way that made sense to me and that I could relate. That was a major revelation.
From a very average math student, my scores shot up. Although I had decided on engineering before, that year with Mr. Bacon really justified and allowed me to enter College with a love for math.
How does that relate to gaming? I does not.
Well not directly.
I'm still not someone who thinks and seems the game as a purely mathematical exercise. It hurt my interest in the game when I do that. However, by setting me up for the engineering carreer, I got to go to college and play RPGs around the world! Therefore, I believe I owe him a big debt of gratitude.
A few years after I left secondary school, I chanced upon him at the bus station in Longueil. I got to thank him for this, though we did not get to talk for long, I always felt good that I got to tell him that.
Merci Monsier Bacon. Merci.
I did mention a number of other teachers who I feel were particularly influencial. As a shout-out to them, let me mention Farid Doummar (French, formality), Patrice Dupuis (History), Daniel Pouppart (religion), and Gilles Vaillancourt (US History).
Shout out to you guys. I could write a post on each of you (one actually will appear later in this series for something he turned me on to).
JP
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