TEACHERS: Deserve our respect

Each Wednesday morning I am an extra set of hands for a wonderful teacher at Dalton Elementary. Visiting classrooms over the years, I learned things. While teaching is a calling, it is also a very difficult job. It takes knowledge, wisdom, energy and caring in immeasurable amounts. Children walk into the classroom from all walks of life, performing at vastly different levels and from every imaginable and unimaginable situation at home.

Teachers (and all school personnel) are a very special breed, because they are driven by a cause beyond themselves. They are selfless human beings who would never hurt anyone, not anyone. They spend all day and countless hours at night and on weekends planning and preparing to help every child to be the best that they can be.

For decades teachers have been blamed for every social, health and political problem in this country. And every morning they show up and give our children everything they’ve got. What to teach and how to teach it has been dictated by politicians, pundits and propagandists. In spite of the pressure, teachers arrive with a stiff upper lip determined to help every child learn. The accusations against teachers and schools fly, based on hearsay and no evidence. And our teachers still love our children, no matter what.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” Teachers are in the arena, and it’s time to show our respect.

BARBARA OSTIPWKO

Coeur d’Alene