Teaching is noble work. Teaching is praiseworthy work. Teaching is God’s work.
Some things I have learned in 32 years in education:
- The work that teachers do can be very rewarding.
- The work that teachers do can be very fun.
- The work that teachers do can be very exciting.
- The work that teachers do can be very fulfilling.
True.
- The work that teachers do can be very taxing.
- The work that teachers do can be very tiring.
- The work that teachers do can be very boring.
- The work that teachers do can be very demoralizing.
Also true.
The “can be” operative in the above conclusions and the opposing truths indicate the duality of the work of educators. In one moment, we can be on the highest of highs. In the next, we might find ourselves in the lowest of lows.
This is challenging work and it impacts teachers in ways that are hard to explain.
Simon Sinek gained much notoriety asking leaders in the business world to articulate their “why,” as in why do you do what you do? Teachers are very, very good at articulating what they do. They are asked to often – by administrators, by students, by parents. They are asked to justify what they do more frequently than they should be.
Rarely, I think, are we asked why.
Having done the work for over 30 years, I know that there is one, single throughline as to the “why” committed teachers do this work. It is simple. It is elegant. It is commendable.
Teachers want to improve people’s lives.
I am convinced this fact gets lost in the work we do. It gets lost in conversations about classes we teach and curricula we adopt and duties we do and compensation we lament. It gets lost when students carry on, when parents complain, when colleagues critique. It gets lost when grades are due, when meetings are upcoming, when time runs out.
This fact gets lost.
We ought to hold on to it like treasure. We ought to shout it from the rooftops. We ought to print it on t-shirts.
Teachers want to improve people’s lives.
Teaching is noble work. Teaching is praiseworthy work. Teaching is God’s work.
I wish the rest could always simply be noise.
Why do we do it? To improve people’s lives.
Period. End of sentence. End of paragraph. End of chapter. End of book.