Parents obviously play a big part in helping their children understand the world around them, but parents are far from the only influences in the lives of children. There’s peer pressure, the media, pop culture, and other people in their lives.

Of the adults who make a big impact in the lives of children, teachers are at the top. Obviously their job is to teach children things like math, history and reading, but often, teachers teach children and teens so much more. Sometimes what a teacher says makes such a big impact that it sticks with a child for the rest of their life.

One Reddit user asked, “What is something a high school teacher told you, that you will never forget?” The answers poured in. Some memories were fond, such as nice or thoughtful things teachers once said. Other things were more profound and resonated even more later in life. Scroll down for 15 examples of advice high school teachers gave their students that they still remember years later.

1. A Gym Teacher

   Reddit user lizzy_in_the_sky wrote:

   I had a gym teacher that was known for being strict/rude. He actively would make kids cry on the regular. Anyway, after my dad passed away he was still super strict towards me. But one day after track practice he caught me in the hall and said “your dad would be so proud of you.” It caught me so off guard, I actually cried

2. An Impactful Class on 9/11

   totes-muh-gotes explained:

   On 9/11, while classes were all but canceled, most teachers just rolled in tv’s and left the news on. Not Jim R. He got up and lectured, to the groans of students. He talked about the effects this would have on the economy, our politics, our culture and society. And he was right. In somewhat broad strokes, of course. But this was literally hours after the towers collapsed. When so much was still unknown, frightening and tragic. It really gave me what I would consider a solid base of understanding the things that would come in the next decade.He talked about how traveling would change with restrictive security measures, how politics would take advantage of ‘terrorism’, how the wars we will engage will be paid for by my generation, my kids generation and so on. He talked about how racism will spike toward middle eastern peoples out of anger and fear and how that is totally wrong. As a vet and former cop, he cautioned us to not join the military while emotions ran high and a sense of patriotism was thick in our veins. It was a gift. As the years went on, wmd’s, the iraq war, tsa, department of homeland security all came about, I felt like I already knew. I will never forget that fourth period class.

3. Addressing the Elephant in the Room

   hamtronn shared:

   “Good morning. I’m Mr. Taylor and I will be teaching grade 10 English this semester. First let me address what you’re all wondering. Yes. This is a glass eye. I lost it playing darts.”DART TO THE EYE. Will stick with me for LIFE.

4. Political Thought Teacher

   Jdoogs27 answered:

   Was in the 90s, my political thought teacher “Never document your deviance”

5. Rules

   BoneWitchNun added:

   My music teacher used to tell me that before you could break the rules, you had to understand them.

6. He Stopped My Apology

   Ded_Wait wrote:

   A teacher of mine said he would write me a letter of recommendation, but it had been a week or so and he hadn’t gotten back to me yet. I went in a 3rd time to remind him and I started off with an apology, to which he corrected me, saying “don’t ever stop advocating for yourself”It’s advice I haven’t forgotten since.

7. A Chemistry Teacher

   Weaselywannabe answered:

   My chemistry teacher told my mom that I would do so much better if I asked questions. I’ve found that this is true in all stages of life. Ask questions!

8. How He Got People Out of His Way

   Dodney_Rangerfield shared:

   My partner had a high school teacher that would walk through the busy hallways at school shouting “HOT COFFEE, HOT COFFEE” while holding an empty mug. He just wanted people to get out of his way and it always worked.

9. Sex Ed

   HumangusGrasshoopers explained:

   “Leave your verbal guns at the door.”This was the HS football coach’s first words teaching sex ed at my high school. He used the metaphor of the old American west where cowboys would leave their guns at the door when they entered a saloon to drink so nobody would get killed in a drunken outburst. He said we’d talk about a lot of topics that might make us feel uncomfortable and tempted to make a joke at someone else’s expense to break the tension. He asked us to leave our ‘verbal guns’ at the door so everyone could feel comfortable asking honest questions. This was back in the late eighties. He was way ahead of his time.

10. “A” and “Lot”

    megbee17 wrote:

    My English teacher in grade 6 put “A” and “LOT”on 2 separate pieces of paper and taped them to opposite walls on the classroom. Then she got a student to run from “A” to “LOT” while yelling with them “AAAAAAAAA” * gets to other side* “LOOOOOOOTTTT” to teach us that they were separate and that ‘alot’ is incorrect. I have never forgotten and can still picture it as if it were yesterday 😂 it’s been 12 years

11. Biology Teacher

    Adastria shared:

    My high school biology teacher, on the end of every quiz or exam, would put a giveaway point question. The question was always the same: Science is: A- Exciting, B- Interesting, C- A Challenge, D- All of the above. No matter which you marked you got the point. However, since this was on every exam, the saying was sand blasted into my long term memory. This led to me always somehow muttering this whenever I was taking an exam in University (substituting the word science with whatever necessary). Then it led to me muttering it whenever I was dealing with something stressful. Now it has become a fall back whenever I run into a life roadblock and everything is simply designated A- Exciting, B- Interesting, C- A Challenge, D- All of the above. It’s simple but it helps keep me from being too negative.

12. Sociology Teacher

    TheDeadMonument added:

    My highschool baseball coach / Sociology teacher always used to say ‘Those who are prepared create their own luck’ before exams.This is a true life lesson.

13. Before Final Exams

    Shiny_and_dense explained:

    Coming up to our final year 12 exams, my maths teacher handed out an article on the most common things people said on their deathbed. She said no one wished they had worked longer hours; that they had spent more time at work than with their loved ones. If we didn’t get the grades we wanted, that’s okay, because there’ll be a back doors to where we wanted to go. Failure is okay. It’s only a minor setback. What’s important is having a good balance between work/studies, family/friends and our own hobbies/interest.

14. An Alternative to “Sit Up Straight”

    Monkey_theKinkyMonk added:

    Not as inspiring as the others but I always found it funny how my teacher would say “90 degrees” instead of “sit up straight”.

15. Information

    kwakaaa wrote:

    2005 a teacher said intelligence of the future will not be defined by how well you know one skill but instead how well you can find information and decipher what information is good and bad.