I Appreciate Teachers

I appreciate teachers.

I appreciated teachers when I was a little boy sitting in a classroom at Marlborough School in Windsor, Ontario. I appreciated teachers when I was a child sitting in a classroom at Keppen School in Lincoln Park, Michigan. I appreciated teachers when I was a teenager sitting in a classroom at Lincoln Park High School. I appreciated teachers when I was a young man sitting in a classroom at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. I appreciated teachers when I was a graduate student at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary.

But I especially appreciated teachers when I was one myself, at LaSalle Peru Christian School in LaSalle, Illinois; at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Illinois, and at Maranatha Christian School in Columbus, Ohio.

Teachers, arguably, are more important than politicians, doctors and business leaders, because, without teachers, there could be no politicians, doctors or business leaders. Someone has to train these people. That is what teachers do.

The hours are certainly long. Students sometimes complain about the long hours of study they must put in to be successful. But their teachers at least match and often exceed those hours put in by their students. Lesson plans, grading papers, consulting with parents, staff meetings, sponsoring and chaperoning all take their sizable bites out of a teacher’s time and energy. Teachers certainly earn the three months of time off many of them get during the summer. They work harder than most people the rest of the year.

Teachers are not at the top of the pay scale in many communities, although in some they do quite well. They certainly have to deal with many problems from lazy, self-indulgent, non-motivated people. And that’s just the parents!

But my hat is off to teachers. Without them, we all fail. Without them none of us can succeed. Without them our society collapses into the dust of ignorance and failure.

I appreciate teachers.