Education

As I sit here this evening reading posts from teachers and educators throughout our great land, I am saddened by the lack of respect for them. I have a wife who retired from teaching after 40-some years in the business and a daughter who is currently a middle school Math teacher. Neither of them went into that business to achieve great wealth or fame. They went into education to serve like 99% of educators before and after them.

Teachers are underpaid, under-appreciated, and undervalued to a ridiculous extent. We expect more from our teachers than we do from our CEOs. We expect teachers to be educators, baby-sitters, moral-givers, protectors, and providers. We expect them to do all of this with salaries that are embarrassing in their inadequacy. We expect that our children and young adults are taught the 3 "Rs", fed, protected, and become morally upright by people that we seemingly have little to no respect for. We wouldn't allow our pets to be trained by people we have little regard for, but our kids are OK because we trust these same people. We trust them, but we don't value them.

So, why do we as a society undervalue them ? Why do we choose to honor and value other professions instead of our most valuable one ? Why do we not put our money where our mouths and trust are ?

It's because teachers are too committed to their students. Teachers wouldn't think about not teaching. They wouldn't think about not spending their own money to make sure that some student without supplies couldn't participate in their classroom. They wouldn't think about not decorating the room with things they bought with their own money so the kids would enjoy school. Teachers wouldn't think about pressuring politicians to fund education instead of stupid, silly pork projects. They wouldn't think of not teaching and not fulfilling their purpose in life. They're too committed.....

So, it's up to us. The non-educators. The parents. The partners. The grandparents. The public who are interested in a quality education for our kids. We need education to compete and we need educators who are dedicated to providing that quality education, but can't because they have to feed their families. We have to become politically active in order to pressure politicians to change the funding of education. Pay the teachers what they're worth (or at least closer to that than it is now).

Become active in helping to better fund education and the providers of that education (i.e., teachers). Make it possible for them to continue in their calling without worrying where their next meal is coming from. Help them help us. Find a venue or group who is committed to furthering American education. Vote for those people who are committed to funding education and the teachers who provide it. Do your research. Commit to helping our teachers.

Those are my thoughts and reflections......