All those books you donated to the Times 91原创 Book Sale and all the money you spent for books means a boost for teachers and schools. Much of the money raised goes to school libraries, and teachers were out in full force Monday stocking up on free books from the leftovers.
Any time we can be partners with teachers, it鈥檚 a good thing. Theirs is not an easy job, and it isn鈥檛 getting any easier. We shouldn鈥檛 begrudge them the respect, honour and, yes, pay that they deserve.
We often hear this: 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 solve the problem by throwing money at it.鈥�
We shouldn鈥檛 throw money at education; we should carefully direct it into areas where it will do the most good, and we should ensure we get value for our dollars. But there鈥檚 a certain penny-pinching mindset that seems to think we can hold back money and still get good value. We can鈥檛 put a price tag on a teacher, but with education so important to our future, we should not be looking for bargain-basement educators.
Teachers are easy targets. They work a six-hour day, right? Take holidays at Christmas and Easter, and always get their summers off. What a life. They should be grateful.
I鈥檝e known a few teachers who managed to work that six-hour day. When the final bell rang, they would almost knock the kids over as they rushed to get out of the school. But they are the few bad apples.
Most of the teachers I know go to school early and stay late. They bring work home with them. They mark exams and grade essays on weekends. They coach teams, advise school clubs and listen to kids鈥� problems on their own time. Many spend their own money for classroom supplies.
We should value teachers more than we value doctors, and that鈥檚 taking nothing away from the worth of doctors. 鈥淎 teacher affects eternity,鈥� wrote historian Henry Adams. 鈥淗e can never tell where his influence stops.鈥�
In my youth, I believed there was a conspiracy between teachers and parents. Certainly, they presented a solid front. If I complained at home about a teacher, the teacher would be defended and my own responsibilities to learn would be pointed out.
When my own children went to school, I realized it was not a conspiracy, but a partnership. That partnership between parent and teacher is vital to learning.
If parents and teachers are not on the same side, teaching will be difficult. If parents and children form an alliance against teachers, there鈥檚 little good the teacher can do.
Teachers have lots of bosses: Principals, administrators, trustees, parents and taxpayers. They can be dumped on from every quadrant. They got into the profession because they wanted to teach, but too many find themselves expending all their physical energy just trying to keep control of a class and their emotional energy coping with criticism from people who think teaching is a breeze.
At a parent-teacher meeting once, I heard a man who should have known better state that teachers these days aren鈥檛 as good as the teachers who taught his generation.
I disagree. Teachers are better educated now, but teaching, never an easy job, is a lot more challenging now. It鈥檚 a far more complex world we live in.
Children are allowed to stay up late and come to school bleary-eyed and without breakfast.
Too many are raised on a steady diet of television and computer games. Teachers have to compete with an array of electronic gadgets for the kids鈥� attention.
And then we complain that teachers aren鈥檛 effective.
Education faces challenges, but before we point fingers at teachers, let鈥檚 do our part in strengthening the partnership of parents, teachers and the community.
