A Teacher Opens The Window To Tomorrow

I read a post on Tendrils’ blog yesterday and it got me thinking.

I think that teaching is possibly the most under appreciated profession in our society. Now I’ll declare my hand in that Mrs Geek is in fact a teacher, so I have a vested interest, but I will counter that with the fact that it gives me an insight into the Herculean efforts put in, often above and beyond the call of duty.

For a while, it was seen as the fall back profession for those that get to the end of their degree and fail to get any other meaningful employment, certainly when I finished University that was how it was viewed. But since then significant investment has been put in to make it a desirable job once again. At least that is one thing this government has got right.

But to the general populous in this country, the teacher is seen as little more than glorified childcare. You leave your children with these teachers, and hopefully they return them with a little bit more inside their heads.

Now I am going to sound like an old fellow with a cane and spectacles when I say that the problem with young folks today is that they have no respect for authority.

I don’t actually believe that to be true in general, most kids are good kids that when push comes to shove, know their boundaries. But there is that small slice of the pie that don’t. This in itself is not new, there were the “bad kids” when I went to school. What seems to have changed is that there is often very little parental support. If I was naughty at school, the thought of my parents being called in would have brought me into line pretty fast. This seems to no longer be the deterrent that it used to be. Worse, many parents actively undermine the authority of teachers by coming in and declaring that little Jonny is an angel and so any misbehaviour has been the fault of the teacher in question.

What people don’t see is the emotional investment that teachers put into their pupils. From the headache cases to heartbreak cases.

A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others. ~Author Unknown

There was a great advert on TV a while back, stating that everyone can one teacher that made a difference to them. This is certainly true for me. I had a number of good teachers, but I would like to go on record and say John Carr was not only a great teacher, but was also possibly one of the most inspirational and influential people in my time growing up. I owe a lot of who I am today to that man.

Thankyou Mr Carr