Better books and chemistry teachers

For some reason, I thought back a few years ago back to my 10th grade year, where we had to read some book for a project. Most of the books were on the off list already. One book that I was actually considering to read was On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It, of course, is kind of like to hippies and the 60s countercultural generation as what The Communist Manifesto is to Communists. But to tell you the truth, it did seem like a book one would actually want to read: two hippies go around America in some 1960s van. The protagonists are lovable goofs who may or may not be stoners, because in popular culture, stoners are entertaining. Wacky hijinks ensue as they may become fugitives for something but ultimately turns out to be okay. There may be some raunchy scenes, but nothing too explicit (or sinking to a level as low as current "college road trip" type films).
That book is not On the Road. In the end, I never read it, and instead read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court which was about as long and dry as dirt, and I think it was "Mark Twain in his bitter phase".


Furthermore, I was forced to drop chemistry. Such a shame, too: in the fall semester of high school we had Mrs. Chem (names changed for privacy), which was a really cool AP Chemistry teacher. Unfortunately, due to some problems in the way teachers retire, she was forced to retire mid-year (like her husband, who also left for similar reasons, I think) and was replaced with Ms. Stupidson (not her real name), a former chemistry saleslady. Everyone's grades went down, Ms. Stupidson was one of the most hated teachers ever (she never improved) and was fired three semesters later on a technicality.

In college, I got Ms. Yttrium (also not her real name), who had bad reviews on