After almost two weeks of closed school systems in West Virginia, schools are expected to open up as of last Wednesday after to victory. Teachers walked out of classrooms and refused to come back in order to protest unfair pay and measly benefits. Becoming the longest teacher strike in West Virginia’s history, the strike finally came to an end after the Governor signed a bill for a substantial pay raise.

With education being so important in a state as impoverished as West Virginia, the strike was a great burden for legislators and a triumph for their citizens. With teachers receiving more money and better benefits, they will further be motivated to create a better classroom atmosphere and help students succeed.

Yet, this strike is not an uncommon theme in American education. It has always been known that teachers, for all that they do to help structure and inform future generations, are not paid well enough. Often, states offer scholarships for their students who want to be teachers or pay off their loans if they promise to stay in the state and teach.

The average American teacher makes 17% lower than other occupations, but could arguably have one of the most important jobs in our society. Without knowledge and structure, our society becomes nothing. It becomes uninformed and unsuccessful, growing more in poverty and confusion.

Education provides an ordinary person with the path and tools they need to become whatever they want to be. Education begets further education because students grow up to spread their knowledge wherever possible, therefore bettering the community around them.

Education is one of the most important tenants of our society, and if those teaching it do not receive the adequate amount of resources they need to do their job, our society will suffer.

My respect for teachers and educators runs deep because I grew up in a two teacher household. I was always pushed to succeed in every aspect of school and was taught early-on a love for learning. I loved to read and write, and my imagination was endless because my parents taught me be to that way.

I wouldn’t say it was like living in a classroom; it wasn’t absolutely necessary to get the best grades and there was no card system for my behavior. But I was completely comfortable spending my days with my mom in her classroom, going over seating charts and grading papers. I loved her job almost as much as she did because I was surrounded by older kids who motivated me to be like them and do my best in school.

Knowing how smart and passionate my parents are about their jobs and their students, I could not imagine why anyone would want to limit their access to resources and proper pay. I’m now in college with many of my mom’s former students and I hear almost way too often how much of an impact her and her colleagues have had on them. Many of my dad’s former students are now some of his greatest friends and acquaintances, with prestigious titles and jobs all over the country.

My sisters and I have personally benefitted from the careful nurturing of teachers, but many students do not get this same opportunity because of America’s broken education system. Flawed funding and poor districts reiterate the cycle of poverty that many students face on a daily basis.

The West Virginia teacher strike may signal a change in the way education is viewed by American legislators. The teachers held their ground and only settled for the best, hoping to create an example for other school systems in the same position. With the bill signed and going into effect next year, students and teachers across the country can only hope America will start paying attention to education.