The little boy walked quietly up to my desk in the corner of the room, poked his foot towards me and asked, can you help me with my shoestring?  That’s not the usual question I get.  It’s usually “can you tie my shoes”?  Since I was sitting in my chair, I told him to put his foot on my knee where I had to perform shoestring surgery on the frayed ends before I could tie them.  I have time for this kind of thing now that I have a student teacher.  Today for instance at the beginning of Kindergarten, as my student teacher was getting class started, I had a little girl come up to me to tell me that she was missing her mom who was out of town and that she needed a hug.  I obliged of course and sent her to the circle to join the rest of the class.  Then another little came over to me for a band-aid for a hangnail she had pulled.  Then another came to me for Q-tip and Vaseline for her chapped lips followed by another with the same malady and yet another pair of shoes that needed tying.  When I told Doug about this he asked, what would you have done if you hadn’t had the student teacher, to which I replied, I would have done them both.

In loco parentis.  The legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent.  I take this responsibility seriously.  My job is to teach children content but my responsibility is to be a part of a school that is responsible for keeping children cared for and safe.  For those who have been through the public school system as students, you probably remember more about your teachers than you do about specific lessons or tests.  That’s because we care about our students in almost the same way as a parent.  We take pride in their successes and share concern when they struggle, and not just academically. This on top of the fact that we are trained professionals who not only juggle the art of teaching but also the role of responsibility that comes with the job.

Professional. Like a doctor or a lawyer or an architect.  College educated. State Certified. Tenured.  Proven my expertise in the art of teaching.  I have chosen to teach in the public schools where we take every child who walks in the door – teaching, caring for and keeping them safe.  Did I mention professional?  Today I read an article in the local paper talking about some state senator who wants to get rid of the state board of education, give the governor control over the department and authority to hire the commissioner.  He says that the board of education is “out of touch” with the state because of their opposition to school choice.

A professional.  I’m a professional because of my training and my experience, not because I happened to go to school like everyone else and I don’t need someone who has not had at least my level of training to be in charge of certifying teachers and driving curriculum and standards for our children.  Could you imagine me walking into a hospital telling doctors what it takes for them to practice and how to run things just because I’ve been in a hospital before?  Could you imagine me telling a judge how to rule on a trial or a lawyer how to represent her client just because I’ve been in a courthouse?  Can you imagine me telling an architect how to design a building just because I’ve been inside many buildings in my life?  The premise is ridiculous.  And no other professional would put up with being treated like this.  Except teachers.  Because of the children.

This is going on all over the country.  People who haven’t a clue as to how to run a school, which by the way is NOT a business, are attempting to take over.  People who don’t understand what it is to have to teach ALL children, working to make them as successful as they can be, teaching them to be the best person they can be, these are people who believe they know better than those of us who do it on a daily basis.  When is enough going to be enough?  How long are we, as professionals, as people who really care about children going to put up with this insanity?  Surely we’re not afraid to lose our jobs – we don’t get paid that much as it is!  (That was supposed to be a joke).  There are protests going on all over the country for various things, but I notice there’s not a whole lot going on from teachers.  We’re concerned about various things that congress is not getting done, but have any of us spoken to our representative about our concern for the lack of focus on education?  I personally believe it’s because we tend not to think of ourselves, but our children.  But if we DON’T do something, if we don’t SAY something, ALL of us, what will public education look like in 5-10 years?  Will there be other people attempting to teach children who don’t have a clue?  Can we afford to let that happen?

Some of the things I shared at the beginning of this blog may seem like glorified babysitting to some.  I prefer to look at it as taking care of every child’s basic needs in order for them to be engaged in learning.  Because education is more than just passing on information from one brain to another.  It’s passing on one heart to another.