Family During the Day

The Sandy Hook shootings hit me particularly hard. I think it’s partly because I think about my baby and how I want to do everything I can to keep her safe. And it’s partly because I work in a building with half a bazillion TVs in it, and they’re all tuned in to cable news. But it’s also because my baby sister is a second grade teacher. So, when I watch/hear/read the news about the twenty beautiful children who were killed, I think about how that could be my baby. But, then I watch/hear/read the news about the six amazing educators who sacrificed themselves for those kids and I think about how that could be my sister.

We, as a culture, are not so kind to our teachers. The pay is usually lousy, the work is really hard. When teachers attempt to stand up for themselves, far too many people grumble about Summer vacations and school days that end at 2:30. But, how many teachers are working second, and even third, jobs just to make ends meet? (Answer: far too many). And, how many teachers go home and then spend most of their evenings grading papers, emailing with parents, and working on lesson plans? (Answer: most of them). Sure, they get summers off… but they’re not getting paid for them unless they’re teaching summer school. And they get a lot of holidays, but they don’t have the luxury of taking off any old day that they want to.

We celebrate Dawn Hochsprung, the Sandy Hook principle who gave her life in an attempt to stop Adam Lanza. And we celebrate Victoria Soto, who hid her class in closets and cubbyholes and then sacrificed herself to protect them. These women are heroes. We should celebrate them. But how often do we celebrate ordinary, everyday teachers?

We need to remember that the kind of person who runs towards an active shooter for the express purpose of saving their students is the kind of person who becomes a teacher in the first place. Name a school shooting and you will find at least one teacher who was injured or killed when they could have saved themselves but chose to protect their students. People don’t become teachers for the high pay and glamor. People become teachers because they love children and they want to help educate them. It’s difficult, challenging work, but teachers take it on year after year and they don’t ask for much in return. It’s high time that we recognize them for it.

For every teacher who plans to hand out worksheets until they retire, there are dozens upon dozens of teachers like my sister who pour their hearts and souls into their work.

Go to any school, in any city, and I guarantee that you will find that the vast majority of teachers:

• Purchase a good chunk of their classroom supplies with their own money.
• Have at least one student with special needs or behavioral problems so profound that it takes time and energy away from the rest of the class.
• Spend countless hours of their “free” time working.
• Have had at least one parent verbally abuse them.
• Watch, powerless, as their classroom grows in size, year after year.

We entrust teachers with one of the most important jobs there is: educating and protecting our children. They teach our children how to read. They dry our children’s tears when they cry. They tie our children’s shoes and button our children’s coats when it’s time for recess. They teach our children reading, math, and science, but they also teach them social skills. A good teacher can make all the difference in the world to a child. A great teacher is worth their weight in gold. And we need to show a little more gratitude for it.

This tragedy hit a lot of teachers (maybe most teachers) hard. I’m sure it scared the bejeesus out of them. I’m sure that a lot of parents freaked out on them. But I think that this was probably really hard for teachers on another level… and that’s the sadness that they must feel about the loss of all of those precious little lives. This tragedy messed with me, because I know what it’s like to love your child and that makes the scale of it all just that much more awful. But teachers know what it’s like to love a classroom full of children. I bet they could all use a little extra help and understanding these days.

If you’ve got kids in school, thank their teachers. And don’t forget to give them a little something for the holidays to show them your appreciation (I’m the idiot who realized far too late that yesterday was LJ’s last day at daycare before Christmas, but I will be making it up to her teacher next week). If you’re as outraged and devastated by this tragedy as most of us are, remember it the next time the teachers in your town ask for a much-needed raise. Remember it the next time some yahoo spouts off about summer and winter vacations. Remember it the next time you contemplate doing your best helicopter impression because your kid got in trouble at school.

Children are our future, but it’s their teachers who are going to get them there.