Is it normal to not remember your teachers?

[Anonymous]

I was having lunch with a couple of friends the other day and we all mentioned about how we couldn’t really remember most of our teachers from K-12. I can only remember a few from high school. For the rest, if I heard their names or saw a picture of them it would probably trigger a recollection, but other than that, I really don’t recall any of them.
My friends and I are in our late 30’s, is it common for most people this age to such limited memories of their teachers?

[Anonymous]

I don’t remember most teachers.

[Anonymous]

I remember all my elementary school teachers except one. Fourth grade. I can't remember who it was to save my life. Which I think is weird since I remember all the others.

I remember a few from middle school and a few from high school, but not all of them.

And I am older than late 30s.

[Anonymous]

I can remember most of my k-6 teachers, because I mostly just had 1. But hardly from 7-12 when I had several a day.

[Anonymous]

I remember all my k-6 and most of my high school teachers. I moved in middle school (or junior high as we called it then) and don’t remember a lot of them, as a result. I’m 50.

[Anonymous]

Sure. And they don’t remember you.

[Anonymous]

It's normal to forget some of the thousands of people you've worked with over decades.

[Anonymous]

I remember some brief visual snippets of my Kindergarten teacher, one of my primary school English teachers, and a weird primary school male teacher I didn't like (but vague on what subject he taught). Then my French teacher from middle school, and many of my teachers from high school. No names for any of them, just faces and mannerism and the reasons why I remember them (they were either great or terrible).

I'm 44. I paid a lot of attention in school

[Anonymous]

I'm 53. I can remember my 1st and 2nd grade teacher (same teacher), one of my 3rd grade teachers (we moved from one state to another and I only had one of them for a couple of months -- I don't remember that one). I can't remember my fourth grade teacher at all, even though I can picture the classroom well, and even remember some of the assignments. I remember her sitting in front of the room and reading to us. But can't picture her and don't remember her name. I remember my 5th and 6th grade teachers well. I remember none of my junior high teachers. Literally none of them. I remember some hs teachers, and don't remember others at all.

[Anonymous]

I remember all my teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade. Vividly. Also helped that it was a k-12 school so I saw them occasionally over the years even after I wasn’t in their class; and, for some subjects like foreign language, I had some teachers more than once. I remember my younger siblings teachers too.

But I can barely remember any of my college or law school professors!

I am 44.

[Anonymous]

I can remember names and general personality impressions of all 7 of my K-6 teachers.

I can name a handful of my middle school teachers, and high school teachers. In some cases, I don’t remember the name, but I remember the subject they taught and the personality traits. For example, I don’t remember my senior year government teacher’s name, but I can fuzzily remember what he looked like, and I remember his delightfully Snape-like personality.

[Anonymous]

I’m 56 and can remember the names of all of my teachers through the 5th grade. If I tried, I could probably remember the names of my middle and high school teachers. I saw my 2nd grade teacher in the mall about 20 years ago and recognized her right away. She was struggling to remember me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can remember names and general personality impressions of all 7 of my K-6 teachers.

I can name a handful of my middle school teachers, and high school teachers. In some cases, I don’t remember the name, but I remember the subject they taught and the personality traits. For example, I don’t remember my senior year government teacher’s name, but I can fuzzily remember what he looked like, and I remember his delightfully Snape-like personality.

Same here.

[Anonymous]

It's just part of life. I'm a 50-something teacher who runs into former students all the time. Many times I don't remember them & they seem disappointed.

[Anonymous]

K - Mrs. Paulker
1st - Mrs. Friedman?
2nd - Mrs. Firestone
3rd - Miss Nathan/Ms. Krieger
4th - Miss Klarmann
5th: Mr. Slacker
6th - Mrs. Eisenstein
7th: science - Mr. Slagle, math - Ms. Romano, SS - Mr. Hayes, English - Mrs. Gal, Home Ec - Mrs. Turletsky
8th - Science - Mrs. (I dunno, but she was the only black teacher in the school and used to say "on tomorrow ..." and from her I learned Newton's Laws of Motion), math - Mr. Ferrara, English - total blank, SS - Mr. Johnson, Tech/Woodshop - Mr. (I dunno, but he ignored all the girls in the class).
9th - Science - Ms. Miller, math- Mr. Van Patten, SS - Mr. Castallano, English- Ms. Castello, Business Math - Mr. (I dunno but I was the only freshman in the class).
10th - Science - Mr. (I dunno but he used to fall asleep in class and the boy who sat in front of me would give me foot massages though we never spoke to each other), math - Mr. (I dunno but he threw a chair at a Middle Eastern new girl who wasn't popular and everyone got so angry we collectively all walked out and 26 of us walked into the office to complain about him), English - Mr. (I dunno but he was formerly a priest and was gay and a great teacher), SS - Mr (I dunno but someone found out he worked nights at Fortunoff's or Service Merchandise or somewhere like that and everyone made fun of him and when I grew up I felt horribly - he was a great teacher who let me eat lunch in class when he found out I didn't have a lunch period, and I learned about the caste system in India from him).

Funny how the older I got, the more I forgot teachers' names. I'm stopping at 10th because then I changed schools and went to a private where we called teachers by their first names. I am Facebook friends with some of them.