The Importance of Good Teachers

The science department chairperson at Bishop O'Connell, whom I will call "DC," was kind, talented, and intelligent. Before becoming a teacher, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry. At O'Connell she taught Honors Biology and, after I left, AP Biology. She was good at inspiring her students. I was therefore not surprised when DC told me one day that a student wanted to follow in her footsteps and become an educator because DC was such an outstanding role model. I was a little shocked, however, when DC told me that she encouraged the student to pursue a different career, at least at first. She could always try teaching later.

I was initially sad to hear this because it seemed like DC was missing the opportunity to mentor a bright student and to help that student become a great educator, too. As I reflected on the story, I realized her response wasn't that surprising, after all. Our society doesn't encourage high performers to pursue careers in education. If you are talented, you are expected to enter certain fields such as medicine, law, or engineering. To some extent, I understand that. Teaching is a difficult career and most teachers are not paid very well. People want the best for their children, so it is reasonable that they would encourage their kids to try something with abundant job opportunities and a decent salary.

On the other hand, since we do want the best for our children, shouldn't we also want them to have the best teachers? If we want to teach our children problem solving and communication, the individuals doing the instruction should be proficient at those things as well. Creative and engaging teachers can help lead kids to believe in themselves so that they have the confidence to achieve their dreams. They can inspire passion for a particular subject so students may go on to be doctors or researchers or engineers - even students who otherwise would not have considered those career paths. Certainly these tasks - and many more - require talent and intellectual creativity.

Like the student at O'Connell, I was often discouraged from pursuing a teaching career. Many people, including my academic advisor, thought I wouldn't enjoy it. Other people told me it would be a waste of my talents. For awhile, I bought into those beliefs. I was denying how much I liked sharing knowledge with others, though. Even as I was preparing for different careers, I imagined how I would arrange my class if I ever got the chance to be a guest teacher. Finally, I was honest with myself. I am good at explaining difficult concepts to students. If we focus on instruction, I am a good teacher, and we need more good teachers.

I didn't become a health professional, so I will never have the chance to heal someone. I didn't become a researcher, so I will never discover the cure for cancer. With any luck, though, one of my future students will.