"The end depends upon the beginning."

--The Emperor's Club

In a few days, the students of Andalusia City Schools will return to class.  A week or so after that, the students of Covington County School will start back, and the next week, LBW Community College will begin fall semester classes.  It's a time of year when teachers feel a sense of excitement coupled with apprehension.  Students are usually a little bummed that their summers are over.  Parents are quite probably relieved.  I am both parent and teacher, so I feel it all.  I like routine, and I know full well that my children (and probably yours too) thrive on routine.  Before we all know it, football season will be nearly finished and we'll be thinking about Black Friday deals and Christmas trees....

My former chancellor Mark Heinrich said many times that teaching is sacred.  He's more right than right.  The job we do is of the utmost importance.  It is noble.  Since the invention of the printing press, when man first had widespread access to knowledge, western civilization has understood, instinctively, the value of an education.  In the Renaissance, books were status symbols.  In Shakespeare's play, Love's Labors Lost, three men swear off women for three years to devote themselves to read and study.  Of course, they each fail miserably in this attempt, and hilarity follows.  But the point remains: knowledge is worth attaining.  

So, back to teaching...

I'd say that kindergarten teachers are the most important teachers of all since they are the first teachers our kids have,  except most schools now have a pre-K, so perhaps they are most important.  Except kids start learning at home.  And at church.  And in line at Walmart.  And at the pool.  And while they are watching television.  

KIDS LEARN ALL THE TIME.  

And because they are learning all the time, we need to bear in mind that we are potentially teaching all the time.  All of us.  Not just our kids' teachers, but all of us.  Someone is always watching.  

A student of mine at Southwind recently told me he was changing his major from chemical engineering to music education.  I applauded him.  Of course, I reminded him that he would have to understand how much money he'd make and that he'd have to figure out how to live within that.  But I know what lies ahead of him.  The look on kids faces when they learn an instrument.  The joy that comes from such.  The fulfillment of teaching is hard to describe to those who don't teach, but it outweighs the salary ten-fold.  

Teachers are often said to be underpaid and under-appreciated.  Perhaps.  I guess it depends on many things.  But great teachers never got into the profession for the money.  We know we have the power to change the world and we don't take that power lightly.  Kids come into our classrooms at whatever state they are in, and, hopefully, leave better.  We pass them on to the next grade and the process repeats for 12 years until the student graduates.  Society sees the finished product, but they have NO IDEA what went into building that product.  Some of the work took place in the cafeteria in kindergarten.  Some of it in the hallway after PE in 4th grade when he or she didn't get picked first for a team. Or at all. Some of it in the office during a discipline referral in 8th grade.  Some of it on the band field in 10th grade. Some of it in the locker room after the game we won.  Or lost.  Some of it in a million other places and times.  And all of those educational experiences make the whole.  

Every teacher the student ever had had an impact on his life, and that impact will be felt FOREVER.  

So when we have a day that absolutely sucks, teachers, let's just remember why we do this noble work.  Start with "why," as Simon Sinek would say, and remember your "why." 

Have a great year, teachers.  You're insanely important, and don't you dare forget it.