Triumphant

If I can't say something to your face I guess I'll just write it.

She walked into the classroom.

The teacher said straight away “Please remove your coat.”

What the teacher didn’t know is that her student had been waiting 20 minutes in the freezing cold for the school bus to turn up.

She would have obeyed usually; she was a teacher’s pet but she was frozen and would not take her coat off which was the one thing that was stopping her teeth from chattering.

“Okay,” she started “but may I ask why?”

The teacher huffed “You don’t need to ask why,” the teacher paused “because I say so. There’s your why.”

She usually wouldn’t argue but she was determined to keep her coat on and she was sick of grown ups walking all over her, whether it was her teachers or the bus driver.

“Okay so does that mean in my exam when there’s a question asking me ‘why can’t two south poles of magnets be put together’ I can just say because I say so?”

All of her classmates stared at her for she was usually quiet.

The teacher huffed even louder “Fine! How about... because it looks scruffy.”

She nodded “Fair point, mind if I make a counter argument?”

The teacher sat on one of the empty desks “By all means, make my day.”

She cleared her throat “Thank you,” She turned  “fellow classmates, every time we walk into a room we are either asked to remove a coat when it is cold or to keep our jumpers on when it is hot. The reason for this is because we have been told we look ‘scruffy’, if this is the only reason then I think this should change. The truth is that when teachers refuse to let us keep a coat on we will then be more reluctant to work either consciously or subconsciously because all we will think is ‘I don’t want to do any work when the teacher is being a total b***h.” She turned again to face her teacher “If you’ll excuse the language.” Then she turned back and carried on before the teacher could say anything “The fact is, if we are able to keep our coats on or, in other circumstances, remove jumpers not only will we be more willing to work and have a higher respect for teachers, our work will most likely improve seeing as we will have to think of something else to think about when our minds are not focused on how uncomfortable we are in the given temperature.” She carried on full steam ahead “Some of you may be thinking ‘that’s all well and good but we’ll look scruffy’ but ask yourselves what will look ‘scruffier’? Students wearing their coats and working peacefully or a pile of coats on the floor and a disruptive classroom? Also it is my understanding that we are brought up to believe that looks aren’t important so, if what teachers say is true, this is a lie which means the following statement is the real truth ‘Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas.’ Translated loosely from Latin this means ‘Vanity of vanities all is vanity.’ How can we be expected to accept others for how they look when we ourselves are not accepted by the previous generations? The answer sadly is we cannot which leads me to believe society is doomed. Thank you for your time.”

The classroom stayed silent; everyone was awestruck.

The teacher didn’t know what to say but when she did there was a slight catch in her throat “Okay, you may keep your coat on.”

She sat down and began her lesson, triumphant.

Author's Note

Please ignore any spelling or grammar errors; I wrote this when I was fairly wound up.