Teachers are highly under-appreciated. It's time that changed, because teachers are just superheroes in disguise aren't they? Here's evidence.
1. They go to school for 17 years, just to prepare to go to school for the rest of their lives.
Most people can't wait to get out of the classroom and out into the "real world." For teachers, the classroom is the "real world." They have spent their entire lives learning and preparing to continue to learn and teach others how to learn. Teachers can't figure out why people want to get out of the classroom, because all they want to do is be in it.
2. They spend all day helping to raise other people's children.
Many people say that it takes a village to raise a child and that statement could not be more true. Parents only see a child for a certain amount of time because the parent goes to work and the child goes to school. If a parents is working a nine to five job, The child goes to a school or a center and stays for about 10 or so hours. The teachers spend the most time with the child and arguably have the biggest impression on them. They are continuing what the parents are trying to teach at home.
3. They are spending the rest of their lives doing something to improve our own.
There is no ulterior motive with teachers. It's no secret the pay is lower than most professions (which is crazy in itself). There are benefits but not much. The reasons teachers teach is truly because they love kids and they want to teach us how to be real people. There is no other motive other than they love us, and they want to see us succeed.
4. They would protect the students over themselves.
Way too often in the news, we hear stories of teachers laying their lives down for the students in their classrooms. Teachers are told very early on that if it came down to it, they needed to be ready to sacrifice themselves for their students. As far as I am concerned, this is one of the biggest things that make them heroes. The fact that they are able to connect so much to other people's children that they would take a bullet for them, says something incredible about the people choosing teaching as a profession.
5. They seem to always know what to say.
All kids have bad days. It doesn't matter how old you are. Everyone has days when they walk into the classroom and that is the last place they want to be. Teachers have to be able to get the children excited about doing work that they may not want to. They have to be there and ask the children what is wrong if they are upset. And some of the best advice I have ever received, have been from some of my teachers.
6. They always know how to motivate us.
Especially as we get older, we often need more motivation in order to continue to learn or do our work. Teachers know how to push us to do our best work, even when it's 8:15 on a Monday morning and all we want to do is go back to bed. Even when it seems like we can't work anymore, they make us do it anyway. We hate them for it, but we know it's their job, and it's the right thing to do.
7. They try to make learning as interesting as possible.
Everyone has had that one teacher that can make even the most boring of lectures seem exciting. The truly fantastic teachers don't care what they are teaching as long as they are teaching. We can all tell when the teachers are not passionate about what they are teaching, and this makes us not passionate about what we are learning about. So even if it's not, they make the most boring thing the most exciting thing because they want us to learn.
8. They put up with us.
There is nobody more annoying than college students. We are angry, tired, and busy all the time. When we walk into class, we are not feeling it probably 99 percent of the time. Teachers know this and they don't care. They keep coming back and they keep teaching us, no matter how mean we are.
9. They are extremely educated on how to make other people educated.
They have basically attended school for 19 years to learn how to go to school. Education classes are not easy classes. Everyone thinks that an education major just sits there and re-learns things that he or she already knows. This could not be farther from the case; they spend most of their time learning how to teach things they already know, and this can be very very difficult.
10. They are our biggest cheerleaders.
Other than our parents, our teachers often have had the next biggest influence in our success. There is nobody more excited than our teachers when we succeed. They have had millions of students and they still feel pride when we come back to visit. Next time you see a teacher, think of all they do for us on a daily basis, and thank them. They deserve it.
