The older I get, the more I begin to realize the true value of teachers, and the more infuriated I become that they are paid so little. Teachers are literally the foundation of our society. They dedicate all of their time and energy to making sure that we leave their classes equipped with the knowledge we need to be equipped with. Many of them spend more hours per week in their classrooms than they do at home with their own families.
While I understand that this may not be everyone's experience, I can honestly say that I have never once had a teacher that didn't go above and beyond what was asked of them to make sure that I was equipped not only with the information they were required to teach me, but also just general life knowledge. I can honestly say that I have never once left a teacher's classroom at the end of the year having not become a better person because of what they taught me.
My teacher's didn't just teach me English or math or history or science, they taught me the value of patience. Of perseverance. Of hard work. They taught me that everyone has an opinion, and that being able to back up your stance is just as important as knowing what it is. They taught me the danger of walking into the real world uninformed about things like history and politics.
Teachers mold and shape us as children and teenagers into the people we become as adults. Future doctors foster their love of science in high school anatomy classes. Future writers foster their love of literature in Advanced Placement English. If we're being honest, none of us would be anywhere without teachers. They help us learn and grow. The fact that many of them are paid so little that they often have to work a second job part time is insulting.
Tell me, who taught you to read? Who taught you to add and subtract? To play the instrument that you love? For some people, your parents teach you some of these things. But for thousands of others, the only time they come in contact with learning is in a school setting. The only people that teach them anything are teachers.
I have witnessed with my own eyes teachers going out of their way to help students with things that effect them personally, outside of school. I have seen teachers buy students lunch, pay for them to go on field trips so they wouldn't be left out, offer them notebooks and pencils when that they paid for out of pocket when students couldn't afford their own.
Most teachers don't just teach their students. They listen to them when they are struggling at home. They offer them advice when they're not sure about life after high school. They make even the most introverted or outcast students feel seen and heard and appreciated.
So yeah. I think teacher's deserve to make more than $40,000 a year. A LOT more. Nothing you can say or do will convince me otherwise. Because teacher's, at least in my experience, are some of the most kind-hearted, patient people I know. They put up with entitled teenagers every single day, and they still come back the next day and make sure that those same entitled teenagers can walk out of their classrooms having learned something. Teacher's are truly the foundation of our society. Can we please compensate them for that?
