This Monday marks the start of National Education Week! This time allows us to reflect and celebrate our privileges with accessible education and resources. With the end of the fall semester approaching slowly, it’s so easy to get lost in our work and complain that it’s all too much. Meanwhile, we fail to recognize how fortunate we are to have school supplies at our disposal and to have faculty that takes the time to understand how we learn best.
I specifically want to raise a glass for teachers and general educators. Teachers have a very big role in all our lives. Educators are in charge of enlightening the next generation, generations that hold future doctors and engineers. Teachers lecture about leadership in the classroom so that children grow and go into the workforce understanding teamwork. That teamwork applies to the several surgeons, all working as a well-oiled machine. Or how about those firefighters? They had to be taught respect in kindergarten in order to understand how to support their work family in stressful situations.
How about what educators do behind the scenes? Teachers make the time to hear about a student’s financial situation, broken household, family member being in the hospital, or their own personal mental health issues. Educators hear all of that out and work to help a student succeed while managing all of those hardships.
To be educated is to have an understanding of anything and everything. Whether it’s being politically educated or educated on something as simple as paying a bill, that is essential. We need to be so proud to be tapped in; all that useful knowledge given to us through our school years.
Take the good with the bad. Yes, I’m being overloaded with assignments, but these are helping me work towards my future career. Having tight due dates is helping me manage and keep my life in order. November is also the Thanksgiving season and a time to be thankful. Start by thanking one of your professors for opening up their office hours to you. Or go donate some school supplies so that another kid can get the same access to education as you have now. Many children wish for it because it’s so beautiful to have in life.