Teachers rock!

Back to school has been exciting for kids and a relief for parents for generations. Most children, especially the little ones, can’t wait to return to class in the fall to see their friends, participate in school activities, and learn things.

The joy that children have on the day after Labour Day is mostly due to teachers — elementary, middle, secondary and post-secondary; private and public. They rock! It’s not said enough — B.C., and the Okanagan Valley, have a lot of caring and wonderful educators.

Everybody has an opinion on education because it’s something everyone has experienced.

Some are skeptical, but even if your school experience wasn’t positive, you can probably name at least one teacher who was a positive influence in your life.

Or two teachers, or three, or four, or five.

Many of us, no matter how old we are, will periodically recall a life lesson we were taught as children or a common-sense piece of advice given to us during our high school careers.

Unlike the U.S. where teachers are paid to coach and do extracurricular work (in some towns in Texas, the football coach makes more in a year than the principal), Canadian educators do it for free and with next to no perks in exchange.

They coach and organize extracurricular clubs because they want to give back. (In most other bureaucratic jobs, such as policing, everyone goes home at 4:30 p.m. and if they stay late, they’re paid overtime.)

Teaching is a harder profession today than it once was. Drugs and alcohol have been an issue in high schools for decades, but kids are growing up faster.

Today’s secondary school teachers also deal with the issue and after-affects of teen suicide, something that was almost unheard of a generation ago. What was a bomb threat? Bullying has been around since the dawn of time, but the internet makes it even more vicious.

Teaching is the easy part. Being a part-time social worker is what makes the job challenging.

Fathers and mothers are also tougher to please because many are helicopter parents. They won’t allow their kids to fail. It’s become so bad that even Canadian universities have issued statements telling parents to let their kids grow up.

Even with all the challenges, the application lists are long for students to get into teachers’ college. Today’s university students want to become involved in teaching because they understand it’s a noble profession.

And for most of us, school was a great experience. You didn’t have to be an ‘A’ student to benefit from the work of teachers.

To all the teachers heading back to the classroom next week, thank you for doing what you do — shaping lives.

We love you!