Schools are in the yearly spring slump. The kids are tired, and they're restless because the weather is becoming fairer each day. Same goes for teachers.

Two telephone conversations during the past week turned my thoughts to the classroom.

The first was from my sister who called to say our high school geometry teacher had died. Mary Gene Walker lived in the tiny Falls County community of Satin, just a few miles from Marlin High School.

She talked and looked outdoorsy and walked with a spring in her step that energized even us blase members of the Me Generation of the 1970s — even in the spring. I was not then nor am I now a lover of math. My college advisers can attest to my search for the two courses that I could most easily conquer on my way to a bachelor of arts degree.

But I like geometry. That's because Mary Walker engaged us. She liked it and we liked her, so we learned.

The more important lesson, though, was that life is full of things that we must do that we would prefer not to. We have choices, though. We can get them done quickly and as competently as we can, we can find a bright spot in the doing or we can be miserable.

In the second phone conversation. I told our son Joaquin, a college senior, about Mrs. Walker. I mused that I had been very lucky to have had a bevy of imaginative, devoted and inspiring teachers.

I must admit to mild surprise when he said he felt the same way about his own instructors. He had just been in a discussion about his college professors and could only name one that he didn't think of very highly.

He talked about his music teacher in middle school and how he had encouraged him to try any number of different instruments. Later, Joaquin taught himself to play the guitar as well.

Much of the time, a teacher's image depends on the student's attitude. My attitude was shaped by parents who didn't attain a high level of education. They valued it and supported ours in all the ways they could.

My own children's outlook about teachers was shaped a bit differently. When they complained about a teacher, my husband and I questioned them closely. Many times we found the problem lay with our student and not the teacher's competence. I'm sure we were not alone in that.

No, teachers and educational institutions are not fault-free, but after learning that we didn't blindly take sides, our offspring learned that the world does not bend to their will. Often, individuals must make adjustments.

The teacher is in charge, we explained, and yes, he may be wrong, unreasonable or not very smart. As the student, however, you can choose to give up or you can work around the difficulty as best you can. We revealed to them that difficult people can reside in most situations they would encounter in life: classroom, workplace, anyplace.

Not always, but most of the time, our kids chose to try and figure out a solution rather than live on blame. Sometimes, they chose to address the problem directly with the teachers, sometimes they just buckled down and got though.

Yes, there were times when either my husband or I, or both of us, spoke to an instructor or an administrator on our children's behalf, but never as adversaries. There was too much at stake and I'm not talking about grades. I'm talking about the difference between producing adults who continue to expect their parents to come to their rescue and those who are confident enough to try and work through life's problems on their own.

Ana Pecina Walker is editor of the Longview News-Journal. Her e-mail is awalker@longview-news.comL