In Other Words...

More than 20,000 students and almost 1400 teachers in Robeson County’s 40 public schools K-12 schools returned to class this week. More than 11,000 of those students are transported nearly 13,000 miles across current routes on 230 yellow busses. 

Robeson County students return to schools that, while still below state levels of academic proficiency (37.5% Robeson County vs. 55% state), have seen slight to moderate improvements in the past few years. More schools are earning passing grades on the annual report card issued by the Department of Public Instruction.  

Nearly 68% to 80% of these students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

As a retired educator, this news makes me happy. It is at least a relief. When I left the classroom, I was not encouraged by what I was seeing, or experiencing, daily. 

Students seemed disinterested and basic respect was missing. Parents did too. Administrators’ hands were tied.  And the finger of blame for everything wrong was pointed at teachers. It was being pointed by people who had not the foggiest notion of what goes on daily in a classroom. 

These people don’t see what teachers do for their students. 

They don’t know about the supply drawers/closets/cabinets filled with snacks, water bottles, hygiene items and school supplies of all kinds, all put there and kept there by the teacher with their own money. 

They don’t see the times a teacher steps in to defend a kid getting thrashed by a bully at their own risk, or defending a kid whose about to get an unfair punishment from an administrator. They don’t see the tears a student shed on a teacher’s shoulder because of what’s going o at home and no one else seems to care. They don’t count the extra hours teachers spend helping a student grasp a concept they don’t understand, or the time spent collecting “make-up” or extra credit work for a student who’s sick and has to be out of school for an extended period of time.

They don’t know about the calls home to parents to express concerns about students.

There are a million “class acts” performed by teachers who are in the profession for the right reasons: they care about kids and want to help them build a better future for themselves. Teachers are not motivated by test scores although they are forced too by administrations that care more about statistics than whether students actually know anything. 

Teachers are counselors, confidants, diplomats, and so many other things. They teach students lessons about so much more than their content areas. 

They teach students about grace and kindness and team work. They teach their students to stand up for their beliefs, and to defend those who are weaker. They help their students develop talents and interests and listen to their worries and fears, but also to their joys and celebrations.

And teachers pray for their students. Please God, let this lesson reach them. Let them open their minds to this new idea. Keep them safe when they are on the streets, traveling in their school busses or with their parents, on their playing fields, in the hallways.