WORLD TEACHERS DAY: A LIFE WELL LIVED!
This month we celebrate World Teachers’ Day! Hip hip… Hooray!!
Well, since it is a UNESCO created and backed holiday, not too much is made of it in the United States. In America, we tend to go more for the National Teachers’ Day which is in the merry month of May.
But I agree with UNESCO: “Aside from parents and direct family, who else has as much influence on the hearts and minds of a child…your child? Teachers not only educate, but they help to shape and frame your child’s beliefs, values, and behaviors.”
UNESCO goes on to add that “parents and students are encouraged to offer thanks and recognition. A simple ‘thanks’, or a card is sufficient.” I know my children have loved to make a craft or attach a snack to the card.
But this year the entire profession of teaching is taking on new meaning for me in light of my daughter’s, Robin’s, decision to switch her major to education. Therese and I recently drove Robin back up to the University of Massachusetts for her sophomore year.
Since it was Robin’s birthday weekend, we did some fun things that she wanted to do – – such as spending time in Quebec. The serendipity of the road really ran in our direction. For example, we stumbled on a beautiful country inn that featured Eastern European cuisine. The entire dining room, and accordion player, sang happy birthday to Robin.
My daughter also wanted to visit a beautiful library and opera house that straddles the US – Canadian border. Half of it is in Quebec, and half of it is in Vermont. Of course, the library and opera house are multicultural, and bilingual. It was beautiful.
A good conservative friend in Texas told me that he will know that his children have grown up properly when they become adults and are “strict constructionist” of the US Constitution. I know that Robin has grown up and adopted good values when on her birthday weekend she wants to visit a library and opera house that are multicultural.
In Quebec, we headed for Louise Penny country, and we ate at an inn and that Penny used in many of her murder mysteries. The food was excellent. We wandered into a bookstore that Penny has made famous, and we saw many fine houses and gardens. Therese even waded into the lake.
We didn’t see any dead bodies. But Inspector Gamache did say, “Bonjour.”
It was while in Quebec that Robin really wanted to talk about her decision to become a teacher. “I don’t know if I should become an English teacher or teach social studies. Also, I am leaning in the direction of teaching in high school as opposed to middle school,” she said.
But then she told me that many times she really feels confused. “Am I making the right decision?”
“Well, let me tell you that you are way beyond me. When I was going into my sophomore year, I didn’t know _____ from Shinola,” I commented.
“Yes, but sometimes I just don’t know,” she added.
“The way you are going you will be unmistakably clear by the end of your sophomore year,” I joked with her. Then I told her about something that the great Unity teacher, Eric Butterworth, believed: YOU CAN’T MAKE A WRONG DECISION!
Butterworth noted that either the decision will turn out to be a very good one, or it will turn out to be a real mistake. But if it turns out to be a real mistake, there will be an important lesson in it for us. That is why Butterworth believed that sometimes it was the best in the long run to make what would appear to be a short run bad decision.
However, I told Robin I would add one important codicil to Butterworth’s teaching. For some of us, we have to take many rides on the same merry-go-round before we learn the lesson.
But then I said to my daughter that I felt that teaching is such an incredibly noble and rewarding profession. Maybe this is not so financially, but the financial remuneration has improved in recent years. I told Robin that one of the most rewarding things I ever did in my life was being adjunct professor at George Washington University. Teachers can make a real difference in the world.
I told Robin that I am certainly not a Marxist. But I do agree in part with Marx’s concept of “alienated labor.” Given how much of our lives are spent – – and revolve around— work, it is a horrible thing not to feel a part of— or uplifted by— the product (or what) we are producing. “Teachers can very much feel a part of what they are producing,” I said.
The next day after this conversation with my daughter, I happened to read something by the author Marci Alborghetti that fit right into this. Marci said that most people center on Helen Keller when they read a book or watch a play about how Helen learned to communicate. But Marci said she focuses on Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan.
Before Sullivan most people thought that Keller was a hopelessly wild child and a lost cause. Sullivan came into the picture with a positive faith and vision of what could be. Slowly but surely, Helen learned to read and write and fully communicate with the outside world— thanks to Sullivan’s hard and brilliant work!
“It was Anne who fascinated me. I yearned for a teacher who could calm my fears, redirect, my anger, and teach me how to live,” Marci wrote. Eventually, she was able to meet an older woman by the name of Grace who experienced many disabilities. Through Grace’s example, Marci was able to achieve a “peace beyond all understanding.”
“Grace is, indeed, God’s gift to me, my Anne Sullivan,” Marci said. For me, Marci’s story reminds me that teachers and teachings come in many different forms and ways.
So on this World Teachers Day let us thank our teachers and remember that teaching is a life well lived. We all have the abilities and opportunities to be great teachers.
