Both of my parents are teachers. My brother has been a teaching assistant at university. Many of my friends, or their SOs, are teachers. Heck, at one point I wanted to be a teacher… until most of the teachers I knew, including my parents, told me not to. (And, for the record, they were all right–I would have been a lousy teacher!)
Being a teacher is a tough job because it’s one that matters.
Teacher: Year One is a record of Jeanne Thelwell’s experiences as a new teacher in the New York City public school system. I’d always had a certain impression of NYC schools, and her journal reinforces it, but I’ve come to realize that they’re not that much different from Ontario schools, particularly in the past few years. Budgets are slashed, programs are cut or redefined seemingly at random, and school boards and government agencies disclaim any and all responsibility when the inevitable results appear; teachers unions are run by some of the most argumentative, thin-skinned people it’s possible to find, and they’re constantly at odds with boards and government over the slightest issue; and it’s teachers who receive the blame and students who suffer.
I have no doubt that there are poor teachers out there, but I also don’t believe for a second that I was simply fortunate enough to have missed them all through elementary and secondary school. I believe my teachers were almost as influential in my life as my parents: I can credit many of them, going as far back as grade 4, with particular contributions to who I am today. To a person they inspired me, challenged me, opened my mind and shaped the way I think. In short, they taught me.
I can’t think of a better gift. Thank you to all of them.
