Viewpoint: Teacher Appreciation Week

Terry Kraus Terry Kraus

Terry Kraus

Editor/Publisher Greenhorn Valley View

发布日期: 2023年4月20日
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?Teacher Appreciation Week is celebrated during the first full week of May each year. In 2023, it is May 8-12. National Teacher Day falls on the Tuesday of Teacher Appreciation Week. That would make it May 9 this year.

??There are over four million teachers, public and private, K-12 in the United States.

??The average teacher salary in the United States is $57,257. In Colorado that average is $60,611. These numbers are according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years spent in the profession.

??The typical teacher works 54 hours a week with less than half of that time actually in front of a class.

??The best teacher I ever had was Coach Richard Poage. Coach Poage was my high school football coach, physical education teacher, and driver’s education teacher. I and two girls who lived in the same area as our farm took summer driver’s ed together.

??We each drove on the initial day, and I don’t think I drove again until the final test. Growing up on a farm, I was driving long before it was legal and Coach Poage saw no need to waste precious class time on me when there were two needier students.

?Except for my dad, he was the biggest male influence in my life. It is hard to describe how much I learned from this man. In fact, the totality of coaches I had in high school and before high school did a wonderful job of teaching the sport. But, to a man, they did more to teach us about life. I hope the people I have coached can say the same things about me.

?The second-best teacher I had was my sophomore English Literature teacher, Mrs. Ziegler. Mrs. Ziegler had a system for earning grades in English/Literature. She was completely oblivious to what your last name was but focused only on whether you fulfilled your contract with her or not.

??To this day I remember a part that I and a classmate recited for the class from Julius Caesar. Mrs. Ziegler was a no-nonsense disciplinarian who tolerated your absolute attention and nothing less.

??Third was Mr. Fabrizius in Junior and Senior Mathematics. He went to our church, as well as teaching in our high school. Like Mrs. Ziegler, there were no discipline problems in his classroom. In addition to teaching, he also farmed and eventually owned a farm equipment business.

??One common denominator among all these teachers was fairness. You reaped what you sowed with each one of them. Effort and dedication reaped respect and good grades. Lack of effort and misguided behavior reaped punishment. There was no lack of deserved punishment in the 1970’s. That seems to be missing from school’s today.

??Good teachers are worth more than they are getting paid, and bad teachers need to not be paid at all. The teacher’s union is very strong. The reality of that is that bad teachers get to continue teaching. It is a costly, time-consuming event to rid yourself of a bad teacher today. Not like the real world, where performance is the key to whether you continue to have a job or not.

??Other things have changed since I was in school. According to the Pacific Research Organization, among high school teachers, overall, there are 87 Democrats for every 13 Republicans.

?It wasn’t like that where I went to school. In fact, no one paid attention to your political party because both parties loved the flag, the police, the armed forces. Where I went to school, almost everyone owned a gun.

?The good teachers still deserve our respect and a thank you. And the bad teachers? They deserve parents and grandparents who stay involved with their children’s teachers. Don’t you think??

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