A personal request

[Josh Richard]

Please think back to your education, was there a teacher that went that extra step to make sure you (or your children) “got it”? Would you be where you are now if you didn’t have a quality education? Was there a teacher that really worked to connect with you and take the time to help YOU? If so, write a letter to the editor, send that teacher a public thank you and simply send it to your local paper. Let others know that you are proud of what you learned in school!

Thanks for listening
Josh

[mickey cassiba]

Mrs. Reardon, God rest her, helped an unruly, ignorant young man grow to be an unruly, well educated old man. Many years ago she passed, I still cannot think of that year in school...aw, I think I got sumpin' in my eye.
Josh, you are absolutely correct. Teachers, the good ones anyway, should be lionized. Their statues should adorn our public places. That said, there are a lot of teachers who are not of this mold...they should be run out of the system.(He said, carefully climbing down off of his soap box).
More power to you Josh, for being a teacher, I sure couldn't do it!

[Jim Rimmer]

Several years ago I wrote a letter to my sixth grade teacher (and to some men who volunteered with the boys at our church, but that's another story) and told her how much she had inspired and helped me. We exchanged a few letters and then Christmas cards for a long time. Then one year the Christmas cards stopped. I would guess that no one in the family knew she was corresponding with a student from 50 years back so they didn't know to contact me. I still think about her often. Great teachers are rare. I had one as a student and am married to one.

[Bryan Morgan]

I'm actually opposite. I realized I was being held back as the teachers all catered to the slow kids. Not putting myself above anyone or anything but I learned at a much faster rate. I realized I could teach myself faster than any teacher could. I've always loved learning. I was the kid the teachers hated because I would always outsmart them. I tested out at 16 (not a GED, an actual exit exam) and got the heck out of there. To me, everything beyond my original schooling in a Montessori school was a waste of my life and got in the way.

My mother in law is a teacher and we help out with the kids sometimes... or used to rather, before everyone became afraid of their own shadows, became chicken littles, and turned schools into prisons. I kind of miss helping out. It's magical when you teach a child something and you catch the moment that they actually grasp what you are showing... their faces light up and you can see it in their eyes. I'd be a teacher if I was allowed to just teach the kids who want to learn, opposite of my school experience.

This probably comes off arrogant but its honest.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I was in my late 40's before I realized the positive effect some of my teachers had on me.

My wife had worked at a local grade school for 10 years when I was shopping with her and a former student came up and gave "Mrs. Fitzgerald" a hug and thanked her for her efforts at school. That was the first of many occurrences of that scene.

I watched the tears flow down her cheeks after she received a call that one of her former one-on-one "special ed" students had died at a late teen age.

Keep in mind, teachers are primarily given strict guidelines within which to function. It's the administrators and boards of education that determine how the teachers must function.

Mr. Pickle in 8th grade, Mrs. Davis in Spanish 1, 2, 3, & 4, Mr. Floyd C. Smith, HS Principle, Mr. Hartzell in Drafting 1, 2 and 4.....they always had time to try teach this hot-headed, insecure teen the proper way to handle situations in life and by the way....they taught their subject matter too. Mr. Mattis....physics and chemistry.......Well done sir! Your courses have served me well in life.

For some reason, I don't understand, my college professors don't standout in my mind as much.

BTW, a close friend, a retired HS biology/science teacher complained......the state congress passed requirements that all HS graduates had to pass a subject that he taught. It was a requirement. His complaint.....he had to teach at a lower, slower pace so the slower learners in his class could try to grasp the material or teach at a pace that would challenge the more gifted students. He felt obligated to teach for the majority.

[Mike Davis NC]

My wife and I both had such bad experience in public school (she in Georgia and I in Alabama) that we home schooled our four children. They are all top performers and very creative. Three are in college now making As and very happy to have the positive foundation of a good family and a broad education. I doubt that I would have any positive words for any of my former torturers.