Every school has a handful of tough teachers. Southfield High is no exception.
According to a November poll of random students by The Southfield Jay, the school’s three toughest teachers are Carla Ware-Parker, Richard Cok and Mary Corridore.
With their no-nonsense attitudes and strict policies, these tough teachers demand results.
Corridore, who teaches Civics, said that throughout her own high school career at St. Francis de Sales High School in Detroit, all of her teachers were tough except one. “I didn’t think they were being hard on me; I just thought the were doing their job,” Corridore says. She says she felt like they prepared her for college.
And that’s what she aims to do for her own students, she says.
One poll respondent said of Corridore, “She’s not really a hard teacher. She just requires a lot.” Of homework, that is.
Cok, who teaches Psychology and social studies, says he knows what it’s like to have a tough teacher. For him, attending high school in Denver, Colorado, it was his Advanced Algebra teacher, Mr. Kattie, who challenged him the most. He says the math content was difficult for him, which is what made the course especially tough.
And now he’s the tough teacher in the eyes of his own high school students. Respondents in the survey said he is known for giving a test each week. “He accepts nothing but the best,” wrote one. “He cares about you and will push you to do your best,” responded another. “He don’t play no games,” said a third.
Despite the fear factor, senior Vearra Campbell says it’s entirely possible to earn an “A” in his class once you figure out what he expects. Campbell earned an “A” in Cok’s U.S. History course in her sophomore year. “I just did all the work. Even if you do nothing in his class – I always did my work – you’ll always learn something from Cok.”
Amber Lewis has an A at the present time in Cok’s Psychology class. How did she do it? “Completing assignments on time, studying, doing well on tests, being on time and coming every day.”
Senior Kiara Bryant says that same approach will help a student to earn an A from English and Spanish teacher Carla Ware-Parker. Bryant earned her A from Ware-Parker in Spanish 1 class as a sophomore. “I studied, worked hard, and I did all of my work.”
One survey respondent wrote of Ware-Parker, “Having your paper come back with solid red error marks happens constantly, but it’s a huge payoff once you walk in the doors of college.”
Ware-Parker says she knows what it’s like to have a tough teacher. She went to Oak Park High School and remembers to this day her toughest instructor: English teacher Ms. Pomerantz. Ware-Parker says, “It’s not that she gave a lot of work, but she demanded quality work and didn’t let you slide.”