Each day, parents and guardians entrust some 7 million teachers with the education of our children. And on a normal day, that is all we expect teachers to do — teach. On those not-so-normal days, we are reminded that teachers are also asked to be surrogate parents, protectors, heroes. Monday was one of those not-so-normal days.
‘Good job teach’
The nation watched in horror as a 2-mile-wide tornado with winds up to 200 mph tore through Moore, Oklahoma. As sirens blared and the ground shook, the full force of the twister hit Plaza Towers Elementary School around 3 p.m. It was full of students, young scared children who had nowhere to hide as the tornado ripped off the roof, sending debris everywhere.
“We had to pull a car out of the front hall off a teacher and I don’t know what her name is, but she had three little kids underneath her,” a rescuer said. “Good job teach.”
And that teacher was not the only one whose body shielded children from harm.
‘Overpaid’
A couple of years ago, as state and local officials were looking for ways to cut spending, a study from the American Enterprise Institute emerged in 2011, asking a provocative question: Are teachers overpaid?
But when I think of the importance of teaching in this country, when I think about the heroism demonstrated in Oklahoma, I find it impossible to overpay teachers. We can certainly talk about the realities of the economy, debate the best method to evaluate effectiveness and discuss the drawbacks of unions. But anyone who characterizes teachers as overpaid is forgetting what we entrust them with each and every day.
Our children. On a normal day, you don’t think about that too much. But on a not-so-normal day, that is all you can think about.
Do you think teachers are overpaid? Tell us about a heroic act that your teacher did for you!
Source: LZ Granderson, CNN
Image: The Times
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