Making Education Work

by Jerry Wyant

What is a teacher? A teacher plays a key role in molding today’s children into tomorrow’s citizens and leaders. A teacher finds ways to inspire different people who have different abilities, different needs, different life experiences; all without having the ability to choose which students to teach, or even how many. A teacher is motivated to make a positive difference while knowing that most of the important differences won’t be noticeable for many years; knows that many people will never recognize these contributions. A teacher accepts society’s problems in the form of raw materials to work with, and then receives blame for these problems. Despite this, and often because of this, a teacher is one of the first to be hit when budgets are cut. A teacher is someone who is a scapegoat for society's problems. A teacher is somebody who is underpaid. A teacher is someone who is underappreciated. Despite all of this, teachers teach because they care. Teachers teach because they can make a difference. Teachers teach because they know that our children and our future are at stake. Because of this, teachers are willing to settle for less than they could get in other less in terms of compensation; less in terms of respect. Teachers are also human beings. They can only put up with so much before they consider a different profession, no matter how much they care. Did you ever have a teacher who inspired you to be more than you thought you could be? What did that teacher do to inspire? Was it something that a standardized test could expose? Teachers play a vital role in all of society. They deserve our appreciation; they do not deserve to be treated as scapegoats for all of society’s problems. Testing is important, but tests alone do not measure the value of a teacher. The value that an education system adds to society cannot be measured by corporate profits. The goals of corporations are not compatible with the goals of the education system.

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First published September 19, 2013