We’ve been thrown into the education system since we were five; starting off learning our ABC’s to conquering calculus and multi-step problems in physics. Many of us will go off to professions we didn’t even know existed when we were four, and will find jobs that include the subjects we loved during class.

And that’s all because teachers exist. Day in and day out, we complain about school; about today’s education system and the endless amounts of homework dropped on we students. The workload will get heavier and heavier as our age increases, and for many of us, it’s currently the end of the world. We’ll receive grades so low we’ll feel as if a monkey could have scored higher on the test than we did, without studying. But within failure comes the desire for success. You’ll push us to work harder than we ever have before. To find ourselves spending late nights in the library re-reading our notes like a broken record. And that’s the moment when we turn ourselves from average to greatness; from the young kid doing basic addition to the young adult walking into their first dream job.

Granted, some teachers just teach. Class after class, they throw the lesson on the board and go over it with monotone voices. They aren’t enjoying themselves and well, we can’t stay awake through it either. But other teachers, they teach us to do more than excel in the classroom.

Those teachers teach us to make our dreams a reality; to work harder than we ever have before and be more than just another average student. And yes, we complain about the exams and the projects now, but we’ll be thanking you when we graduate and grasp the job we wanted. We’ll be truly thankful when we can sit back and say “I made it” because we will make it.

So in case you’re wondering, teachers aren’t just teachers. No, they don’t change the world. They aren’t glamorous celebrities running from the flashing lights of the paparazzi as they sing their hearts out, or multi-millionaire seven-car-owning businessmen who spend their days golfing and having expensive lunches with clients.

They’re the dark horse holding our futures in their classrooms. The inspirers and motivators who push the bar towards greatness.

Many say don’t be a teacher because they barely get paid, but they aren’t in it for the money.

Teachers change our world with every action and word they say. They mold our path and route towards success. They shove us to take in more than just words on a page; to achieve more than just another graded test.

The concept excels farther than a grade in the grade book. It digs deeper than just understanding the material. For many of your lessons will nudge us to apply the concepts to society; to make real world connections and run with it.

You may not change THE real world but you change OUR world. And that right there is something to pat yourselves on the back about.