"I'd never been a teacher before, and here I was starting my first day with these eager students. There was a shortage of teachers, and they had been without a math teacher for six months. They were so excited to learn math"
About this Quote
Shue’s story lands because it flips the usual celebrity-to-cause narrative: this isn’t a polished “giving back” moment, it’s a crash course in responsibility. The first line (“I’d never been a teacher before”) is an unglamorous confession, a way of admitting he’s underqualified and slightly stunned by the situation. That vulnerability reads as credibility. He’s not selling expertise; he’s describing being drafted by circumstance.
The context does the heavy lifting: a teacher shortage so severe that kids have gone six months without math. That detail turns “first day jitters” into an indictment of a system that can’t reliably staff core education. It also reframes what we imagine students want. The subtext pushes against the tired stereotype of apathetic kids and “failing schools.” These students aren’t hard to motivate; they’re starved of access. Their excitement is less about math as a subject than math as proof they’re being taken seriously again.
His emphasis on “eager” and “so excited” is doing emotional work, too. It’s not sentimental, it’s startling: the idea that basic instruction can feel like an event. And it quietly raises the stakes for the adult in the room. When students are this ready, the failure can’t be pinned on them. Shue positions himself as a stand-in for any competent, caring adult who could have been there sooner - which is exactly what makes the anecdote sting.
The context does the heavy lifting: a teacher shortage so severe that kids have gone six months without math. That detail turns “first day jitters” into an indictment of a system that can’t reliably staff core education. It also reframes what we imagine students want. The subtext pushes against the tired stereotype of apathetic kids and “failing schools.” These students aren’t hard to motivate; they’re starved of access. Their excitement is less about math as a subject than math as proof they’re being taken seriously again.
His emphasis on “eager” and “so excited” is doing emotional work, too. It’s not sentimental, it’s startling: the idea that basic instruction can feel like an event. And it quietly raises the stakes for the adult in the room. When students are this ready, the failure can’t be pinned on them. Shue positions himself as a stand-in for any competent, caring adult who could have been there sooner - which is exactly what makes the anecdote sting.
Quote Details
| Topic | Teaching |
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