"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered.
He blames society's shortcomings on public education, of all things!
I think too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong
places.
Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes and models aren't heroes,
they're
celebrities.
Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news.
There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes,
child abuse, and crime in today's America. Public education
certainly didn't
create these problems but deals with them every single day.
You want heroes?
Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying
to shield his students from two Neo-Nazi youth on a bombing and
shooting
rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders
gave his
life, along with 12 students, and there were also other less heralded
heroes
who survived the Colorado blood bath.
You want heroes?
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC, teacher, was moved by the plight
of
one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant.
So this
pretty white woman told the family of this handsome 14-year old
black boy
that she would give him one of her kidneys. And she did. When they
subsequently appeared together hugging on the Today Show, Katie
Couric was near tears.
You want heroes?
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only
made
it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could bring the best
out
of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, Calif.,
said "she could teach a rock to read." Suddenly she
was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is always fatal, usually
within five years. She asked to stay on the job-and did. When her
voice was
affected she communicated by computer. Did she go home? She is running
two
elementary school libraries. When the disease was diagnosed, she
wrote the
staff
and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach-- that
dying is
part of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.
You want heroes?
Bob House, a teacher in Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to follow
up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big new house?
Instead,
they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They explained
that
it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that
would
not change. The community was both stunned and gratified.
You want heroes?
Last year the average public school teacher spent $468 of their own
money for student necessities --work books, pencils-- supplies kids
had
to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets
of
the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial world. Public schools
don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong. Public education
provides more Sunday school teachers than any other profession.
The average
teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour
employee
does in a year.
You want heroes?
For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only
hug
they will get that day because the nation is living through the
worst
parenting in history. Many have never been taken to church or synagogue
in their lives. A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the
story of her
attempt
to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal
on her
desk -- one that said "I love you!" He said he'd never been told
that at
home.
This is a constant in today's society-some two million unwanted,
unloved,
abused children attending public schools, the only institution that
takes
them all in.
You want heroes?
Visit a special education class and watch the miracle of personal
interaction,
a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication
they
witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says,
"We have
been so anxious to give our children what we didn't have that we
have
neglected to give them what we did have." What is it that our kids
really
need? What do they really want? Math, science, history and social
studies are
important, but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone
to talk
to,
someone to listen, standards to live by. Teachers provide upright
examples,
the faith and assurance of responsible people.
Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a teacher, or to someone
who should thank a teacher today!