The student/teacher relationship School is part of everyone's life sooner or later. Whether you only went to high school, middle school, or college, it's something everyone has done at one time or another. I have attended school most of my life so far and have had several teachers during this time. Some of the teachers I had encouraged me to think on my own, and some asked me to memorize large amounts of data to reproduce on tests. It's hard to say which teachers I learned the most from. But I know I've always thought that teachers are people who hold absolute power over you, after all they hold the key to whether you pass or fail. For this reason, I don't think I was ever completely truthful in anything I said in a paper or in a class discussion, because I was worried that it wouldn't be what the teacher wanted me to say. Is this right? Is this what the relationship between teachers and students should be? Should students feel so overwhelmed by the power held by teachers that they cannot stand up for what they believe or what they feel? If not, what can teachers do to get rid of this power issue and encourage students to truly express their opinion freely? Or can a teacher have both the power and the ability to make their students express their opinions freely? In the essay PC: Alive and Entrenched by Lynne Cheney, she talks about the relationship between students and teachers and how teachers use their power to push their beliefs and ideas. She provides several examples of how teachers in freshman English composition courses use this course to promote their feminist beliefs. A quote from a student states: "My teacher... is a feminist and incorporates her idea... in the middle of the paper... lives and accepts a relationship, with students playing as important" of a role as teachers. I often went to class only to find half the students talking or sleeping or not participating in class. I can imagine this would be frustrating for a teacher who is actually trying to teach just like a friendship or romantic relationship, it doesn't work if both people aren't putting in the effort. If both parties participate and give their all, teachers will be able to teach and students will learn Quoted Cheney, Lynne. “PC: Alive and Entrenched.” The Presence of Others Eds Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz New York: St. Martins Press, 1997 Zawodniak, Christian Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz New York: St. Martins Press, 1997