To Be A Teacher - To Be Remembered

To Be A Teacher – To Be Remembered

I read a quote by Andy Rooney from the television program “60 Minutes” in which he said, “Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”

So this is the last day of the school year, and my first year as a teacher. I am walking through the halls, amist girls dressed in skimpy clothing, boys with their pants practically falling off, boys with carefully groomed beards, pregnant girls, and boys with tattoos which identify what gang they belong to. Although the concept of education hasn’t changed that much throughout the years, the student population surely has.

I pass Angela in the hallway. Funny, now that she has had her baby, now I realize just how big she really was. Seems like only last month that we had a baby shower for Angela’s baby. Angela and I chat for a while. She told me she and the baby’s father are living together and they are planning to get married after graduation. I didn’t tell Angelia that boyfriends who belong in gangs don’t always make great fathers. But Angela knows that already.

Graduation ceremonies are this Wednesday. Anthony is graduating. Anthony belongs to a gang, but he came to school every day. When I first met Anthony his reading level was that of a fifth grader.

On an old Twilight Zone, an elderly teacher was retiring. He spent one last time in his classroom. His classroom came to life, a roomful of young men whom he had taught throughout the years. With a glistening in the retiring teacher’s eyes, he was in disbelief in what he was seeing. Several of the students stood up and reminded the teacher what he had taught him, courage, strength, belief in one’s self.

Teachers give the gift of life, and it continues throughout life. Just like a child needs food for nurturing, a child also needs a teacher for nurturing his mind, to get a child to realize that knowledge is not just memorizing something, or getting an A on a test – but to teach a child that many things are possible when the mind is willing to explore new avenues. A teacher teaches a child how to open his mind to new ideas, to new beliefs, and a teacher demands expectations when the child has none.

And when a child is grown, has reached his potential, has become a doctor or an engineer, or has self respect for himself, that person usually has a teacher to thank.