The time has come to strip your state’s education budget of everything that does not directly relate to true education.
There are certain professions that carry an implicit mandate, one that goes beyond performing the required duties of that profession. A social contract exists in these specialized lines of works that requires the performer to place the needs to those he serves above his own. Police officers, soldiers, and firemen are three such professions. There is a fourth, but this profession’s mandate has been corrupted by union greed and politics.
I speak of the Teacher, especially the teacher of the American high school and university.
The mandate of the Teacher is simple: to educate. The simplest, purest form of the Teacher can be found in my book Teacher of the Year: The Mystery and Legacy of Edwin Barlow. For 35 years, Edwin Barlow taught mathematics at his beloved Horace Greeley High School in New York. Thousands of students passed through his classroom. Yet when he died, he remained as much a cipher as the day he arrived, for he deliberately shrouded his life in rumor and mystery.
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Which brings me to your kid’s teacher. Does your child’s teacher devote himself exclusively to the nurturing of your child’s intellect? Is he giving your child the attention they need? Is he staying after school every day, inviting any student from any class to come for extra help, or even to just chat about some random intellectual puzzle? Or is he just performing at the minimum level to get through the day?