[LM_NET] Heroes

[Robin Curbello <rcurbello@TRISD.ESC2.NET>]

  _____  

From: Lura Briscoe [mailto:lbriscoe@trisd.esc2.net] 
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 12:01 PM
To: 'Mac Johanson'; 'Dianne Kuenstler'; 'Carolyn Orsak'; 'Cheryl Johanson';
'Robin Curbello'; 'Linda Tadlock'; krohrbach@trisd.esc2.net; 'Kris
Sutherland'
Subject: Heroes

 

 

 


Subject: Heroes

 

 

 

> "Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered.

> 

> Many blame society's shortcomings on education. Too many people are
looking for heroes in all the wrong

places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes and models aren't heroes;
they're celebrities.

> 

> Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news.  There
is no precedent for the level

of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse and crime in today's America.
Education didn't create

these problems, but deals with them every day.

> 

> You want heroes? 

Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying to
shield his students from two

youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colorado. Sanders gave his

life, along with 12 students, and other less heralded heroes survived the
Colorado bloodbath.

> 

> You want heroes?

Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by the plight of one of
her students, a boy dying for

want of a kidney transplant. So this woman told the family of a 14 year old
boy that she would give him

one of her kidneys. And she did. When they subsequently appeared together
hugging on the Today

Show, even Katie Couric was near tears.

> 

> You want heroes?

Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it,
she was one of those

wondrous teachers who could bring the best out of every single child. One of
her fellow teachers in

San Jose, California said, "She could teach a rock to read." Su ddenly she
was stricken with Lou

Gehrig's Disease which is always fatal, usually within five years. She asked
to stay on the job ...

and did. When her voice was affected she communicated by computer. Did she
go home?

Absolutely not! She is running two elementary school libraries! When the
disease was diagnosed, she wrote

the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach ...
that dying is part of living.

Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.

> 

> You want heroes?

> 

Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to be a
Millionaire. After he won the

million dollars, a network film crew wanted to  follow up to see how it had
impacted his life. New

 cars? Big new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still
teaching. They explained

 that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that
would not change. The community

 as both stunned and gratified.

> 

> You want heroes?

> 

>   Last year the average school teacher spent $468 of their own money for
student necessities --

 workbooks, pencils, paper -- supplies kids had to have that they could not
afford. That's a lot of

 money from the pockets f the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial
world. Schools don't

 teach values? The critics are dead wrong. Public education provides more
Sunday School teachers than

 any other profession. The average teacher works more hours in nine months
than the average 40-hour

 employee does in a year.

> 

> You want heroes?

> 

For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they
will get that day

because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history. An
Argyle, Texas kindergarten

teacher hugs her little 5 and 6-year-olds so much that both the boys and the
girls run up and hug her

when they see her in the hall, at the football games or in the malls years
later.

> 

A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to
rescue a badly abused little

boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk ...one that said "I love
you!". He said he'd never been

told that at home. This is a constant in today's society -- two million
unwanted, unloved, abused

children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.

> 

> You want heroes?

> 

> Visit a special education class and watch the

> miracle of personal interaction, a job so difficult

> that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication they

> witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source

> which says: "We have been so eager to give our

> children what we didn't have that we have neglected

> to give them what we did."

> 

> What is it that our kids really need? What do they

> really want? Math, science and social studies are

> important, but children need love, confidence,

> encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to

> listen, and standards to live by. Teachers provide

> upright examples, the faith and assurance of

> responsible people.

> 

> You want heroes?

> 

> Then go down to your local school and see real

> heroes--ones changing lives for the better each and

> every day!

> 

> Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a

> teacher, or to someone ho should thank a teacher

> today. I'd like to see this sent to all hose who

> down play the importance of teachers. They have no

> idea who a public school teacher is, or what they

do.

 

 

 

 


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------