Teachers provide an invaluable and frequently ignored, role in the world. Progress in a global economy comes from an educated mass population. Yes, Warren Buffett, Michael Dell and Bill Gates provide the world with the where with all but if they failed to get an education, they would not have had the resources they currently have.
Go to a room, anywhere in the world, of successful economic, political, entertainment or sports leaders, and identify one consistent commonality. It would be education.
Look at the world’s problems – poverty, disease, drugs, starvation, crime. At the root cause is the lack of education. Political and business leaders claim that education is expensive. It isn’t! It is ignorance – the lack of education which is expensive. In the United States, 70-80% of all incarcerated people have dropped out of school.
When I go to a barber, plumber, lawyer or doctor, they do not say “I’m only a …”
Why do educators belittle themselves and their occupation by introducing themselves with, “I’m only an educator”? Are there low performing educators? Sure! But there are also low-performing judges, stockbrokers, lawyers and doctors.
We need to be proud of our field and the job we do. WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!
We are improving the lives of children and improving the world.