“If a person wants to make a lot of money, he should not become a teacher. He should be an astronaut,” a person tells me. I respond, “Without teachers, there would be no astronauts.” I know it has been said before, but I don’t think most people really think about what it means. Much of what was taught to us in school, we don’t remember learning. We think we just know.
Unless we struggled learning how to read, we don’t remember that an adult once taught us our letters, their sounds, and how they fit together to make words. We think we just know how to write a sentence and that sentences form paragraphs. Some people are better readers, writers, and spellers than others, but most American adults can read and write well enough to get through life. Some remember their first-grade teacher’s name (Sister Anna Marie was mine), but many people don’t even remember the name of the person who taught them the basics of reading.
We know the difference between a quarter, a dime, and a nickel, but we can’t recall learning this. I sometimes work with students using fake coins. I have them feel the edges of the coins and tell them that one way to tell the difference between a quarter and a nickel is that the edge of the nickel is smooth. We talk about the dime being worth more than the nickel even though the nickel is bigger. Size and value are difficult concepts to learn, sometimes even for adults. Bigger isn’t always better, right?
We learn a great deal from our parents. Some are patient enough to home-school their children (I was not one of them. We couldn’t even get through homework without arguments). We also learn from television, the Internet, and other people. Learning should never stop, even when we are out of school, but it is important for us all to remember that much of our knowledge was given to us by teachers. As class sizes get bigger, expectations higher, and salaries smaller, fewer people consider becoming teachers. In our current society, some want to add the responsibility of arming teachers to defend themselves and their students. This is just one more reason for people to not want to teach. If we don’t give people incentives to become teachers, then who will teach the children?
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An eighth-grade science class is so crowded with students and desks that one can hardly move. The school is blessed to have technology, but there is not enough to go around because the class is so big. Who will teach the children?
Teachers are constantly spending their own money on supplies for the classroom and sometimes pay for students to go on field trips. Who will teach the children?
A teacher can no longer afford her house after her adult children move out. Who will teach the children?
Students often don’t care how they do on standardized tests. They just bubble in random answers, but a teacher’s salary sometimes depends on the students’ performance on those tests. Who will teach the children?
Students, teachers, and parents are stressed because of the testing required in schools. Who will teach the children?
Students have various diagnosed and undiagnosed issues, and teachers are expected to differentiate their lessons for each student. Who will teach the children?
Some students only want to go to school for art or music or P.E. because these are the only subjects the students think they are “good at.” Budgets for these classes are often cut first. Who will teach the children?
A good teacher goes to work in Corporate America because she cannot support her family on a teacher’s salary. Who will teach the children?
Over 50,000 teachers and staff march to the Capitol in Arizona. They say, “We will teach the children. We love our students. All we want is a fair salary.”
An aide shows up for work each day even though she is making minimum wage. She loves the principal, the teachers, the secretaries, and especially her students. She will teach the children, but only if she has a spouse who can support her.
They will teach the children, but they need to be recognized, supported, and appreciated.
Someone has to teach the children.