Lyndon Furst's
A Different Perspective
"A Day to Celebrate"
POSTED 8/22/08
A Day to Celebrate
In America everyone has a day it seems. We have Labor Day, Mother’s Day, Secretary’s Day, Grandparent’s day, and there might even be a national milkmaid day for all I know. As we go to press we have a day designated to recognize the work of a special people, teachers. This day has significant meaning to me, not only because I have been a teacher for good share of my professional life, but because of the impact teachers have made in my life.
I first got true insight into the work of teachers half a century ago when I was looking for a job so that I could complete my college education. Paying for college in those days was much more difficult than today. There were no government grants and no loans. Since my parents couldn’t afford to pay my full tuition, I had to work so that I could stay in school. I did any kind of a job I could find. I worked in a furniture factory and did janitor work. I worked on road construction in the upper Peninsula for two summers.
Eventually I had to drop out of college and go to work in an automobile factory as a welder. I saved as much money as I could so I could get back into school. And then I saw an advertisement on the bulletin board at the college that changed my life. They were desperate for teachers in those days, and even though I did not have any teacher training courses, I was hired to teach the afternoon classes in seventh grade in Benton Harbor.
"How hard can it be to teach seventh grade?" I thought. Certainly it would be easier than working on road construction. Just put the assignments on the blackboard and correct the papers when the kids finish their work. Easy money in my mind. Wow! Did I ever get an education. One or two of the kids actually did what I told them while the rest just sat there with evil little grins on their faces. Some found the work I assigned far too easy, while others didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. I was not given an orientation to the school or to classroom teaching. The principal just handed me the textbooks for the classes I would teach, shoved me in the room, and wished me good luck.
I survived that first year of part-time teaching. I enjoyed the experience enough that I decided to teach on a full-time basis. Eventually I completed the teacher preparation courses and became a legitimate teacher. Then, I went into school administration and eventually teaching at the college level. So it is not without bias that I write this column.
It is not only my own experience as a teacher that gives me perspective on the profession, it is also my experience as a student. During my many years of formal education I have had a variety of teachers, some good, some very good, and some not so good. Probably the worst teacher I ever had was a professor of learning theory. What I mainly learned from him was how not to teach. And then there were the people who were not classroom teachers but did other jobs around the school. They taught me a lot about life in general and the principles of good living. My favorite was the director of the high school cafeteria. I worked for her cleaning pots and pans and doing other duties she assigned. She was a tough disciplinarian and took a keen interest in my general behavior. She instilled in me a good work ethic and at the same time became a good friend during my teen years.
Over the years I’ve noticed that teachers play a variety of roles especially at the elementary and high school level. They must teach our children the rules of good behavior in polite society, instill in them the love of our country, keep them entertained, provide good day care, and provide a psychologically safe environment. We call upon teachers to teach sex education, character education, appreciation for diversity, health education, and a variety of other things that are important in civil society. And then of course we expect them to teach the content of the various subjects that we deem important for people to know in modern society.
From my perspective, we expect a lot from our teachers. We want them to give our children special attention, cope with some of the behavioral problems we haven’t been able correct, and help them develop, to the highest level possible, academic skills commensurate with the genetic code we have passed down to them. Surprisingly, teachers in our local community have been able to deliver on that high expectation. We owe them much for making our community a great place to live and raise our children. Maybe every day should be teacher appreciation day.