I thought I'd be a fighter pilot. Then I met my high school math teacher.

In this series, professionals thank those who helped them reach where they are today. Read the posts here, then write your own. Use #ThankYourMentor and @mention your mentor when sharing. 

The man to whom I largely owe my career once called me a “son of an eagle.” From a notoriously cantankerous and curmudgeonly high school teacher, that was meant neither as a term of endearment nor as an epithet of soaring praise. He happened to have caught me whistling in class.

J.L. Saldanha was a math teacher at St. Aloysius, the public school I attended in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. He taught high school math, mostly with a focus on geometry. His job was by no means easy. Like most teenagers, we could be rowdy and unruly. We had nicknames for our teachers (not all flattering).

Mr. Saldanha had more challenges than most – he’d been handicapped by polio. He had trouble walking and could not move back and forth to the blackboard – he used to draw diagrams in the air for us instead. His body may have been limited, but not his mind, and he would work out proofs completely in his head. To our benefit, he’d dedicated his life to teaching.

For my part, I was just like many students there. Attentive, but somewhat undisciplined, with my own unfounded pseudo-aspirations – I thought I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the IAF, the Indian Air Force.  In a lot of ways, I was a misguided teenager when I first stepped into Mr. Saldanha’s class. That was not how I left, however.

Mr. Saldanha changed my life. The impact he had on me was due in large part to three qualities I’ve come to believe are essential for any great mentor:

1. A mentor inspires others to shoot high

“Hitch your wagon to a star,” Mr. Saldanha would say. It’s a phrase I find myself repeating to others even now.

Admittedly, the standards in our education system were not great. The school itself was excellent, but the standards by which we were measured in the region were always kept low. This was sufficient for passing tests and hitting routine benchmarks, but for pushing children to excel and to dream for more than what was immediately in front of them, it was a terrible system.

Mr. Saldanha could not accept this for students who he thought could do better. He pushed me to do more than just the task at hand. One day he pulled me aside and told me that he thought I should aim to attend the Indian Institutes of Technology after high school. To give you a sense for what a ludicrous statement this was to my ears: if MIT accepts one of every 10 students who apply, IIT accepts one of every 100. It sounded crazy, but his passion was infectious; his drive unrelenting.  

2. Mentors are selfless

Mr. Saldanha’s goal for me was lofty, but he would not let me walk the road alone. In class, he pushed me to excel, way beyond the minimal requirements that would be covered in our tests. He gave me additional work to do, with problems that were far more advanced than the standard curriculum in terms of difficulty. He insisted that I come to his house for further tutoring – all of which he did with no request or expectation of payment. When my father insisted I ask him if we could pay for the tutoring, he hurled unprintable epithets at me. He was completely giving of his time and expected nothing in return except for my discipline and hard work. 

3. A good mentor sees potential in people

Mr. Saldanha committed deeply to his students’ education. He would look at even the most unruly boys in his classroom and try to help them realize the potential that they had within. It’s an approach I’ve tried to emulate as I’ve advanced in my own career as a professor, entrepreneur and CEO of edx.org: always look for the positive in the people around you and try to coax the very best work from them – they’ll often surprise you, and even themselves. 

With Mr. Saldanha’s help and encouragement, I did eventually make it to IIT Madras. Throughout my time at university, I would visit him once or twice a year when I was out of school on holiday.  Without him, I never would have reached beyond my comfort zone, and I certainly never would have set my eye on a prestigious school.

I’ve since gone on to become a teacher myself and have always been passionate about creating new learning opportunities for anyone willing to push themselves. I believe that Mr. Saldanha’s mentorship has been the inspiration for much of that.

Teachers have a huge influencer over all of our lives, helping to shape us into the people we become and the impact we have on the world around us. 

Is there a teacher or mentor from your life that helped push you to become more? One who helped you realize a passion or talent you didn’t know you possessed? Share your story using #ThankYourMentor in the body of your post.