Natl Teachers Day editorial

[Janet McElroy <jmcelro7@UA1IX.UA.EDU>]

Today's TUSCALOOSA NEWS (AL) published this editorial (reprinted by
permission of the editor) for National Teacher's Day.  It might be
of interest to your faculty.  (Any typing mistakes are my own.)

        Teachers have it easy enough.
        Their goals are clearly laid out...by presidential programs, by state
   Department of Education guidelines, in local school board demands, by
   principals' instructions, parents' wishes and student's whims.
        And those goals are clear enough.  They should teach our children
   how to be good citizens.  They should root out racial intolerance and
   teach students to appreciate our cultural diversity.  They should halt
   the AIDS problem ...oh, and eliminate teen pregnancies, too, while
   they're at it.  They should teach our children how to drive cars, operate
   computers and lead healthy lifestyles.
        When they have the chance, of course, they might teach our
   children to read and write and add.
        Well except, perhaps, for the angry youths from dysfunctional
   homes, the ones most prone to violent behavior.  Better to
   let them simmer in some corner.
        But perhaps they can do something with the disaffected child who
   hates to read, who has tuned out on the world and tuned in to his TV,
   CD, radio or video games.  The one who won't come out of his corner.
        Teachers might do well to start the school day with a prayer, too.
   But they had better not teach values.  Someone has to draw the line on
   teachers.
        And while they're at it, working through conflicting goals set by
   demanding overseers and unappreciative students, we might whisper
   this sweet nothing into their ears:  The Germans and the Japanese do it
   better!
        Or, if we really want to drive the point home, we might tell them,
   like Shaw, "He who can, does.  He who cannot, teaches."
        Teaching, Jacques Barzun wrote, "is to do everything that the
   rest of the world leaves undone."
        That, one might suppose, is the lot of the classroom teacher these
   days, and if some of them have it much better than that, we're happy for
   them.
        So why should we celebrate National Teacher Day at all today, with
   education going down the tubes, as it surely is?
        Because it isn't.
        Because we still find our success stories in schools, and plenty
   of them.  We find most of them in our own, particular situations: a
   child who makes honor roll, a neighbor's son or daughter headed for a
   top-flight college, or a slower learner who finally grasps some
   fundamental principle.  And there is more.
        And beside each child, invariably, we find a teacher who pushed
   or prodded or cajoled or guided him or her to success.  A teacher they
   will never forget.
        Why do teachers teach?  Because they love it, we suppose, because
   they not only can and do, but they can teach others how to do, and find
   beauty in it.
        On this National Teachers Day, we should be grateful for that.









Janet McElroy      jmcelro7@ua1ix.ua.edu -or- jmcelroy@uahcs2.uah.edu
Librarian...CHS-W, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401