A stabilizing factor

This is a picture of the Dalton Scholengemeenschap in Den Haag (The Hague), where I went to (secondary) school from 1973 - 1979. After graduating from this school I moved to Groningen (about 200km North-East) for my University studies, and I never set foot in the school again - until yesterday. Every year the school organizes a "come-back day" for ex-students and I received an e-mail inviting me to the event. Seven of my class mates showed up and it was so nice to see them again after so many years. It is amazing how people don't really change even after 28 years. Well, one of the girls from my class who was not exactly pretty is now a quite beautiful woman, so some do change. And a guy from my group who I always thought of as "a-sexual" was carrying an "Out games Montreal" bag so that's already 3 confirmed gays from my class. (another guy was out even at that time and at the age of 17, unfortunately he didn't show up for the reunion) I also shook hands with 3 of my former teachers. The teacher of Dutch language and literature remembered me as a "stabilizing factor" in our class, I am still wondering what he meant. Well, he is 83 years old now so maybe his memory is not accurate.