When I was in 3rd grade, I wanted to be a teacher just like my mom and dad. I loved going to work with them on ‘take your child to work’ day and watching in awe as they commanded their high school classrooms. I loved helping them grade papers and put stars on passed tests. It wasn’t until I realized how annoying I found some of the high school students that I understood being a teacher wasn’t for me. However, even though I never wanted to be an educator, I now appreciate how much having two teachers as parents has helped me in life. They are not only amazing instructors at work but from their experiences they have taught me important lessons at home. Here are a few reasons why I am grateful that my parents are teachers:
1. Built in tutors.
I probably should have been paying my parents for how much they helped me with my schoolwork during high school. During my senior year, my dad had a full-time job as an English teacher and a part-time job as my personal scholarship/college essay editor. Meanwhile, my mom the science teacher had to help me learn biology, chemistry, and anatomy. I’m surprised she didn’t hate me by the time I graduated. For every other subject that they couldn’t help me with they had the hook-ups with their fellow teacher friends. It was pretty much impossible for me to not do well in high school.
2. They taught me how to take responsibility.
One unfortunate trend that has been happening more recently in the last decade is parents blaming the teacher for their child’s failure. If their child has a bad grade, they ask what the teacher is doing wrong. If their child didn’t turn in an assignment, they say that the teacher never said when it was due. While it isn’t unheard of to have a bad teacher, most of the time, the student just needs to take responsibility for their own failure. Since both of my parents have to deal with irresponsible students on a daily basis, they have always instilled in me the importance of taking responsibility for my own actions in my education and in every day life. If I fail a test, I need to work harder, not blame others for my problems. If I want to succeed in college, I need to take initiative and decide my own fate. I'm thankful that I have two parents who have taught me to take responsibility.
3. They gave me perspective.
Both of my mom and my dad have had students that have terrible home lives. Some students have parents that are in jail or they are in homes that they don’t feel safe in. Or some students have parents that simply don’t care if they go to school or not. It is a sad truth that many students aren't doing well at school because they have no one at home to teach them how important education is. Hearing these stories from my mom and dad made me grateful that I have two parents that asked about my grades, came to every school function and attended every parent-teacher conference. If it wasn’t for their experience with other students, I wouldn’t realize how incredibly lucky I am to have the support system that I do.
4. They know how to navigate the scary college world.
Both of my parents were first-generation college students. Which means that they had to deal with all of the first-time college student uncertainty while they helped me get through it relatively stress-free. While some students struggle with planning their schedules for the first time or dealing with financial aid, my parents used their years of experience to help me navigate the confusion that is college. I am forever indebted to my parents for making going to college a lot less scary.
5. Free school supplies.
When your parents have been teachers for thirty years, they tend to have a build-up of leftover school supplies. Notebooks, highlighters, pens, pencils, post-it’s, you name it, my parents probably have it stashed somewhere in the corner of their classroom.
6. Their unwavering faith in me.
I’m not sure if it is just a teacher thing or a parent thing, but my parents have always believed that I am capable of greatness. Whether I was trying out for my eighth grade volleyball team or applying to nursing school, they have always encouraged me to follow my dreams and never give up. Thank you to both of my parents for not only being the two most passionate educators I know, but also for always teaching me to work hard and have faith in myself.
