Although we may have an international holiday celebrating their contributions to education and community, teachers are systematically not appreciated enough. People that teach the youth of this nation should be more recognized as they are essential in broadening the minds of future generations about the world around them.
Teachers directly affect the lives that we live and the choices that we make. Choosing to disregard the information that is provided to us ultimately deprives us of various opportunities, doing a project just to pass only hurts us in the end.
Receiving an education allows us to understand the profession and career we want to achieve. According to a 2018 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, employment rates for students who are 25-to-34-years-old who have a higher education than high school are 29 percent more likely to be employed than those without an education higher than high school.
In the same article, a graph from 2000 to 2017 shows the possibility for someone with a lower education than high school has decreased from 64 percent dramatically to 57 percent. It is safe to say that with a society that requires you to have a higher education in order to succeed, teachers are the, so to say, “guardian angels” of our society.
However, if they are so crucial to our society, why are they paid less, and in often cases, have to work another job in order to either pay for rent or other supplies. According to Education Week, one out of five teachers within America work a second job during the school year. Also in the same article, it stated that teachers spend on average, $479 out of their own salary on supplies for the classroom.
If teachers are so vital to our society, why don’t we provide them with the ability to teach the way they want with materials that they need?
Had it not been for the classes and teachers that I have taken I would not have been able to know the career future that I want to achieve in broadcasting and film. With this knowledge that I have found I also know where to find jobs in these professions.
I have noticed how even in my two years of being a college student the knowledge I have learned has completely changed how I approach certain situations in my life. From knowing about current world issues to learning about past cultures, I now view the world in a different light now.
It is not only the monetary impact that education makes on students, but it is also the need for an understanding of the world around us.
Although teachers deserve more in every sense of the word, there is still the argument that teachers themselves are causing students to not have a strong enough connection to the subject itself, therefore causing less of a connection between the student and teacher. On Education Post, Pernille Ripp, an English teacher in Oregon, lists the reasons why her own students feel disconnected from her class.
In the article, she states that one of the eight reasons her students did not feel engaged was that they felt as though they did not have any power in class or any choice. This is understandable, yet the fact that teachers are unable to accommodate multiple students and their preferences is mainly blamed by the disregard of pay and resources provided to teachers.
Regardless, teachers still have to accommodate large quantities of students with minimal resources and funding provided to them.
All in all, remember to thank your teacher at the end of the semester and take the time to reflect on what you learned.
