In Defense of Educators...

[In response to recent criticism aimed at teachers (among others), I write the following.  While it may seem like I'm patting my own back, rest assured, I am merely offering my support for any and all who have assumed the mantle of "educator."]

"Give your teachers the respect they deserve, because they are the ones who can help you get where you need to go."  (Richard Howard)

To anyone out there who likes to complain that teachers get paid a full year's salary for only nine months of work, I respond with this:  we don't.  We get paid for nine months of work, spread out over the year.  We do a year's worth of work in those nine months.  We don't get "summers off."  We plan, take classes, collaborate with other teachers, and advise extra-curricular and co-curricular clubs, to say the least.  And yes, we take some time to relax...

...and during those nine months, our work day, while not as long as some, doesn't end with the last bell; it ends when we finally put down the work we bring home.  We arrive early and stay late.  We spend extra time with students during our planning periods or lunches.  We spend inordinate amounts of time reading, revising, planning, and studying so that we can improve ourselves as teachers.  We teach students things, but we also teach them ideas.  We hope that the work we do makes our students a little better than they were when they first sat down in our classrooms.  We talk to students, get to know them, teach them, and learn from them.  And at the end of a long year, as students are rushing to beat each other out the door, we same teachers sigh at the thought of another year gone by, and smile whenever a student, or two, or three, stops by to say "goodbye," or "it's been fun," or even "thank you."

I think, in the end, teachers are under-appreciated by most, but are most appreciated by those who matter most:  the students.  And as we begin our summer "break," we do so knowing that we need some well-deserved time to unwind and reflect on the year that has passed so that we might be better prepared for the year ahead.  We have minds to mold, and we need to be ready.

If you're a teacher, thank you for the work you do.  A student at a time, we're making the world a better place!