A Tale to Uplift the Teachers in Your Life

Our KLA Teachers meet the parents.

Quietly inside, as the economy has wreaked havoc on public schools, parks and many services in my hometown of Miami, I’ve been worrying about the future of the teaching profession.

I have three school age children and come from a family of four teachers so when teachers are being laid off, furloughed or otherwise being asked to do impossibly unfair sacrifices to cling to their under-paying jobs, I take it personal and I get very concerned.  It hurts so much to see what teachers are going through that I’ve told myself I would discourage my kids from pursuing any career related to teaching.

A couple days ago I was reminded how wrong my thinking was.  I was assisting an end of the year parents program for my daughter Briani at her pre-kinder school Kids Learning Adventure when the principal read a short but wonderful story she found on the Internet.

Below is a slightly modified version of the story called “What Do Teachers Make”.  I want share it with you so you can use it to uplift the teachers in your children’s lives.  Teachers may never get paid what they are worth but without them we would be a very poor society indeed.  Enjoy this story with a teacher you love.

WHAT DO TEACHERS MAKE?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.  One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.  He argued, “What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?…

To stress his point he said to another guest: “You’re a teacher, Susan.  Be honest.  What do you make?”

Susan, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied:

“You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them write.

I make them marvel with every fairytale I read to them.

I make them proud of their discoveries and achievements, big or small.

I make children understand that if you have the brains and follow your heart, you can do anything.

I make them know that if someone ever tries to judge them by what you make, they never learned anything at school.”

Susan paused and then concluded.

“You want to know what I make?

I make a difference!  What do you make?”