Teachers, you gotta love them. I know
I do! It's kind of hard for me not to when my father, mother and big brother are, or have been teachers. We hear so much about the supposedly sad state of affairs of the American educational system. We hear about how our teachers aren't doing enough to educate our children, of how many teachers fail them on a regular basis. Like any other profession that embodies such a large number of people (teachers), I'm sure that there are those who are guilty as charged. But I know for a fact that there are far more teachers who give their all and then some to teach our children. I do not think that any problem with our educational systems lies at the feet of our nation's teachers. I think the problems can be found with our administrators at the county and state level, and in particular with the parents. Our teachers give us the necessary tools to blaze our own future. Whether you are a garage mechanic, a pilot, a doctor or a lawyer, you owe your personal success to teachers. Yet as a society, we tend to treat our educators as second class citizens. For them to be trusted with
so much; the lives and minds of our children, the very future of our nation, we give very little back to them in way of compensation, or even in way of simple thanks. Parents especially have to stop viewing school as their personal day care. A parent's responsibility doesn't stop with getting little Johnny off to the bus stop every morning. I believe that a child who performs poorly in school is a direct representation of his parent's commitment to them at home. Most of the time, a parent who complains about their child's teacher at school cannot even tell you what's being studied in the classroom. Ask them to give you one word on Johnny's spelling list and they won't have an answer. It's just easier for many people to pin blame on the teacher; it deflects from their own shortcomings in rearing their own children.
We all expect our children to do great things. We want them to become doctors, lawyers, or heaven forbid, teachers. We want them to find happiness and fulfillment in
whatever path they choose in life. Of course, teachers are the only gateway any of us had to achieve our own goals. The same goes for our children. So why are teachers among the least compensated professionals in the country? College students don't become teachers for the money. Being college students, they're obviously intelligent enough to have figured out this small fact. There are many other four year college degree fields that would have led to a more lucrative career. People become teachers because they care. They care about the lives of our nation's children. They care about the next generation of the country's leaders. Our nation's teacher's need to be better compensated, period!
As far as commitment goes, teachers can't be beat. School/district budget cuts are a common occurrence. But although the school's bottom line has been slashed, we expect our teachers to do more with less. I have personally witnessed my family of teachers reach into their own pockets to equip their class of students with the necessary items for the school year. If they didn't do this, it would make for a long and dry year for the kids. My brother, Ron, teaches a class of special needs children. These kids all have different obstacles in their life, whether it be mental retardation, A.D.D., or past sexual/parental abuse. He has been so successful in his efforts to reach out to these kids that his curriculum has been widely noted and adopted. He is constantly being sought out for advice on special cases and situations, to design new programs for different classes and different schools. And his commitment doesn't end at the end of the school day. He is always available at home if the students or parents want to call at dinner time with a question that just couldn't wait. He has been the first to respond to abuse of "his kids", getting legal help if necessary to remove these kids from the abusive environment. So again, teachers have more than their allotted share of commitment. Where is the commitment from the parents? Where is the commitment from the school/district/state administrators? As things stand today, their commitment to our children, to our future, does not even begin to compare to the commitment of our teachers.
And finally, compassion. I can think of very few people more compassionate than teachers. When I was in highschool, we had a very special student, Dwayne, who was struggling with leukemia. He was such a sweet kid. He never had a bad word to say about anyone, and always had an infectious smile to share with the world. He was a fighter. He also came from a very proud, but poor family. As the leukemia cotinued it's course, it eventually robbed him of the use of his legs. His parents were able to find him an old, barely functional wheelchair held together with more rubber bands and tape than nuts and bolts. I personally witnessed our school principal and his beautiful wife buy, from their own pocket, a brand spanking new wheel chair for Dwayne. And to beat it all, they did this under the guise that it really came from his parents. That infectious smile became utterly contagious after that day. I have always believed that act of compassion probably gave Dwayne a little more time on earth with us. He knew he was loved, by far more people than he thought possible. But sadly, not long after that day, Dwayne finaly succumbed to the disease that had ravaged his body for years. It was a good fight, but one that was ultimately lost. Once more, my highschool principal and his wife stepped in to help. They talked to Dwayne's parents and were given thankful permission to buy him a suitable headstone for his burial. Compassion. These two wonderful people have certainly done more than their job of educating me about geography, history, and math. They gave me a wonderful lesson about life, and through them and our friend Dwayne, they gave me a much more important lesson on how to live life. Consequently, these two wonderful people were my dear parents. Mom, Dad...I love you!
So how do we "fix" our educational system? I don't think it needs to be fixed; it's not broke. If you want to look for the problem, you're gonna have to look a little closer to home. As a society, we need to recognize our educators as the professionals they really are, and compensate them appropriately. We need to ensure that our kids have the materials and tools necessary for the classroom. As parents, we need to become much more involved. We need to know what is being studied in the classroom every day, and the only way to do this is to actually talk with our children. Attend parent/teacher conferences regularly, asking questions and offering solutions. We desperately need to become part of the solution, rather than the problem. If you don't care enough about your children to have a vested interest in their education, how can you ever complain about their teachers?
Mom/Dad, if you ever read this I expect it returned with all my double negatives and misspellings circled in red...
"A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams
It's been quite a while since my last post so I'll try to play a little catch-up here. Big Windy has been very busy thses last few months. Since returning from Afghanistan, our unit has moved from Giebelstadt to Katterbach, about an hour South East down the road. Combined with the move our, and every Chinook unit in the Army, has transformed from a 240 soldier strong company to a streamlined 55 soldier outfit. The company now only houses the pilots and crew of our aircraft. I'm still up in the air on this one. It has both pros and cons, as does everything else I guess. I think mostly we just dislike the change. So anyway, following the move we have been busy ever since. Several guys were sent on a support excercise within days of arriving to our new home. Not long after their return, we were then sent on a support mission to the sunny island of Akrotiri Cyprus, just off the coast of Lebanon. We were sent to help evacuate any US civillians caught in the crossfire of that little war Israel and Hezbollah had going on. After arriving, it was decided we would hang around for any and all contigency ops that might occur. Part of the training we underwent in order to be fully prepared was landing aboard Navy ships. Every pilot and crew had to land on a ship five times during the day, and five more times during the night while utilizing night vision goggles. This was probably the coolest event of the entire trip. Unless your a NightStalker, this opportunity just doesn't exist. The above picture is of one of our crew landing aboard the USS Trenton, a small single spot tub that was on it decomissioning float. After this final float, the ship is being sold to India. Not sure how that works... We also had the pleasure of landing aboard the USS Wasp, a large helicopter assault ship. Both ships and crews treated us very well, and we gained some great experience we never would have had the chance to get elsewhere. So after 40 plus days, we redeployed cross country (MULTIPLE COUNTRIES) to Katterbach. I can now say that I have been through more than 13 countries in one month!! We just seem to be busier as each day passes. As we have another year long deployment on the horizon, we just wnat to be able to relax, catch our breath and enjoy our families. But once again Big Windy accomplishes the mission. I'll try and update the blog on a more regular basis. At this rate, I'm sure I'll have more and more to write about.
