For Teachers

      I believe there isn't a more important job in our country than being a teacher. The early grades are extremely (maybe most) important to the outcome of each child. Teachers should have far better preparation to teach than they do and be paid at least twice as much are they are. They determine the outcome of our society more than other group, except parents, and they often end up filling in for a missing parent or parents, who aren't present, or up to the task.
     I watched as my own children went through school after losing their father, they had both exceptional teachers and disastrous ones. If the principal had been alert the disastrous ones could have been avoided. When John was having nightmares and screaming “Dick and Jane” in his sleep, I went to the school and got him changed to another teacher. I learned from a colleague later that his teacher was known for screaming at the kids “all day”!
     In the many lectures I've given, I always ask how many teachers did you have who changed your life?  Most responded with one, or two. Occasionally a few had 3. Everyone appeared to immediately know what I meant and responded with seriousness.
      Teaching is an art. It is not just teaching children to read, although that is essential. It is seeing each child for who they are and helping them to use their juice to create a satisfying, productive life. I wish every child had at least five or six of those special teachers. Imagine what that would do to change our country.
     I don't know how I survived both having both inadequate schools and home. But I know that are many U S children who share my unfortunate circumstance. In addition way too many are also economically impoverished. Many children are then crippled for life by our underfunded and inadequate schools.
     We could choose to prepare teachers well and pay them so we get the cream of our colleges. They need to make enough to support their own family!  Of course we also need to have classes that aren't over crowded, so the magic that fine teachers can produce, can happen. Is there anything more important?
     I have more respect for teachers than almost any other group. Some teachers in every school I've been in are creative, nurturing, and amazing. Though most of them are unaware that they are far more important in children's lives than they have any idea. They don't give themselves enough credit for their impact on children's lives, either positively or negatively.
     In every school I've been in professionally, preschool through graduate school, there have been teachers who should have gone into another profession. I think the most important job of a principal is to hire good teachers, identify quickly those who aren't skilled enough, and encourage them to find another profession they are better suited for. The destruction on a child from a negative or poorly prepared teacher often lasts a life time.
     We are now paying far more, for not putting our teachers and schools high on our priority list. Colorado spends more on incarceration than on education!
     It was just announced that we spent 3 billion dollars for one war ship and will spend 5 billion on a wall! Is that really our priority?