Over the years of school I have learned a lot but the most important thing that I have learned is to not be a bystander and not to accept everything as fact. Mr. Gallagher was the one who taught me this and he has had the most profound effect on my life from his unorthodox teaching to the way he speaks with so much emphasis and passion. When I first entered his class my thoughts were this class is going to be a breeze but was I wrong, from the first day he told us the story about his friend that cursed at the lady that he held the door for I knew the class had some real depth.
When Mr. Gallagher speaks to the class it’s interesting because no matter if you’re in the middle of a conversation or about to fall asleep he commands your attention. When most teachers start a class they usually start by telling you what the plan for the day is but Mr. Gallagher does he has music playing and he starts with some sort of a deep intellectual question. When he does this it always gets me thinking and helps to get the class in the right mind set for what we’re gong to be doing that day. Another thing that he likes to do at the beginning of class is continue a conversation from a prior class if there’s something that he needed to find research about.
Mr. Gallagher has emphasized this point so much to us over that I don’t think I will ever forget it “If you don’t agree with something someone says research it because ignorance is not an excuse”. The reason that he emphasizes this so much to us is so that we will always know the truth like up until this year I didn’t have any idea there was an Armenian genocide since then I have gone and researched it and I have learned that so much of the problem is caused because of politics. If Mr. Gallagher had not emphasized the point of researching it I probably wouldn’t have and I would have gone on through my life be ignorant to the truth.
Another thing that I admire about him is that as we have been studying the Nazi regime lately he showed us films of the officers doing every day activities, humanizing the monsters. I feel that by showing both points of view are very important and very few other classes do this. We watched the film The Pianist in class one day but we didn’t finish it so I was inspired to go out and rent the film and there was a scene in it where Spiezman, the pianist, is trying to open a can because he’s starving and hiding from the Nazis and he drops it and it rolls over to an officers feet and before this class I probably would have felt like oh well he’s gone for but when I watched I got a sinking feeling and fear for his life a true feeling of civic agency. Mr. Gallagher has taught me more in the short semester we had together than I think any other teacher has.
Another film that we watched that had a deep impact on me was the Memory of the camp. I found that by not having audio for it made the images that we saw they had a deeper impact on us because when you add audio you have to listen to the words and watch the images. When you remove a part something like that it makes the images impact you more because you can put full focus onto what you’re seeing. The small amount of narration was needed for the film though because without it I feel like you might have different feelings towards the images you’re seeing and more compassion.
The discussions that we have in class also are very important to me because without them then we wouldn’t have the ability to share thoughts and ideas we have about the different topics. When we have discussions in class I find that it opens up more ideas and it gives you that third perspective that no other class gives you. The grey area is so important to this class because unlike math and science everyone views history a little differently.
One of my favorite discussions we had was about homosexuality. The reason I liked it so much was because Mr. Gallagher and I don’t see exactly eye to eye on this topic. When he brought the question, is homosexuality abnormal, when he started class that day he handed out a paper that supported his side of the argument and I found this to be somewhat unusual because no one has ever supported their side of an argument as well as he did. Now seeing his side with highly creditable sources I have changed my mind in some areas.
As far as history classes have gone I found this class to be the most interesting because we have studied history but not like other classes. From the start of the course I was expecting to study wars and different battles and modern history but I was wrong. I really enjoyed how much of a different feeling this class had; it was like the class had its own personality developed from each of the students. I think that the class went in that direction because Mr. Gallagher didn’t teach us per se he guided us and we taught each other through all of our discussions.
So in conclusion this class has made me realize that I need to stand up for what I believe by checking my facts and not being a bystander. I feel that this class should be a requirement for every student to take because the way the world is headed we need to be more aware of people and cultures and tolerant of what other people think.
Thank you Mr. Gallagher it has been a great year.
