My first memory was of receiving my favorite childhood gift. It was a blackboard and chalk, and it set me on a lifelong path. I would have the neighborhood friends over and play teacher. Whenever there was a snow day I would cry, before arranging for “school” to take place in my house that day. When the teachers went on strike in sixth grade, they asked me to help “teach” the younger children. I was honored.
I was so fortunate to be able to go to an amazing school system — shout out to Greenburgh Central 7! It was a truly integrated, progressive school that taught the children values. I learned all about getting along, and the importance of learning about others.
It made perfect sense that I would go on to college for my teaching certification. It would prove to be an education in ways I never expected.
I was halfway through earning my degree toward becoming a high school social studies teacher when President Reagan was shot. I went to class that day in shock and anxious to hear how we would learn to teach such a horrific event. It seemed to me that it was the teacher’s natural role to help children process this tragedy that had brought the world to a standstill. But when class began the teacher said we had no time to cover it and went on with the regular curriculum as if nothing had happened.
About a year later I was incredibly motivated to teach European history and the lessons of the Holocaust. (This was personally important to me, since I had worked on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust.) Imagine how stunned I was when my “master” teacher said it was irrelevant to the course and we would skip it. Feeling absolutely dejected, I complained to anyone and everyone, but was silenced.
That was the end for me.
I turned from teaching to counseling, and eventually to the profession that I love today: teaching and helping adults learn.
I feel blessed to be able to continue to do something that helps people address what they most need help with. I think of it as helping adults learn how to “fill in your personal blank.” As part of that effort, Balancing Life’s Issues has just issued its brand new course catalogue, with all new offerings to help with whatever issues may be affecting you now.
While I may not have gotten to teach social studies — not counting those snow days with neighborhood friends — I am still in awe of teachers and all that they do. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, but they deserve our thanks every day of the year.
It was that early love of teaching that gave me my thirst for knowledge and education. I pride myself on my background and my commitment to understanding the world.
We should never stop learning. I loved and highly recommend Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by (my fellow Penn colleague) Adam Grant. It talks about the “art of rethinking” and the importance of disagreement as an opportunity to love and grow.
A very powerful opportunity for rethinking happened to me recently. One of my beloved account managers, James Francis, told me about a new limited series on Netflix called Amend: The Fight for America. Will Smith narrates this powerful documentary and educates us about the real history of this country and the continuing struggle for equal rights.
Watching it, I realized how much more I need to learn. It comes at a critical moment in our lives, when we need to both learn about our past and concentrate on improving the future. It should be mandatory viewing.
Amend reminded me that the only way we as humans will ever change is to be educated with the truth and inspired to make the world better. Those are lessons we first learn from our teachers, and we should never forget them.
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