Audre Lorde essay

Audre Lorde's essay talks about the teachers she encountered. After her mom taught her how to read and write she started school in a small class of kindergarteners. Her teacher seemed neither nice nor mean to me at first. Audre reports that she says;  "Now just try, dear. I'm sure you can try to print your A. Mother will be so pleased to see that at least you tried." Then she patted her head afterwards, so at least she was trying to be encouraging. After she writes her name instead of copying a letter Audrey states All of a sudden the air around her hand beside my notebook grew very still and frightening. She also refers to how She broke the silence with a wicked edge to her voice. "I see." she said. "I see we have a young lady who does not want to do as she is told. We will have to tell her mother about that."

After she switched schools to the first grade and her new teacher was Sister Mary that is described as a “disciplinarian who helped run the first grade with an iron hand in the shape of a cross.” Audre also states that “it always felt like Sister MPH hated either teaching or little children.” She also turned in an assignment that she did well on so Sister Mary assumed she was cheating. She had to bring in a note from her dad stating that she did not cheat. So she obviously didn’t trust in her abilities as a student.