The week of May 7th through May 13th is Teacher Appreciation Week this year. Seventy years ago, the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, had to persuade congress to have a week of recognition for the teachers. People have been celebrating this tradition for thirty-nine years. It is still continuing strong.

This week was made to show appreciation for how much a teacher does for the world. We, as a society, need teachers. Teacher recognition matters, as it supports, validates, and encourages educators to continue doing what they do best: engaging and enriching students’ lives.

This is one job career that doesn’t get paid what they deserve. An average salary for teachers yearly is about $61,000. You could be a company driver or sales representative and make the same as what teachers make. Similarly, people could be a construction manager or radiation therapist for $10,000 more than teachers make. Yes, all of these job careers are important, but they don’t have to go through nearly as much schooling that teachers have to go through to get even a decent pay. 18% of teachers have to have a second job in order to have enough money; that shouldn’t need to be necessary for teachers.  

Teachers are a necessity for the world. Where would your kids go to learn if we didn’t have teachers? Yes, you can teach them at home, but what people don’t realize is that the teachers are also babysitters for your kids. You take them to school and head to work to be able to pay bills. If you had to be at home with your kids, it would be hard to be able to have a job when having to teach your child as well.

Another important factor that people have to realize is that teachers are not done with their job the minute that the kids walk out the door because they have to spend time outside grading or creating content. Parents can also be a problem that teachers have to deal with from time to time.

One thing that teachers do that no other job career get is three months of time off. 

As you can tell, all around, teachers should be more appreciated by everyone and paid what they are worth, which is way more than what they are getting paid. Teachers should be appreciated and respected everyday, but make sure you go out and do a little more for our amazing teachers.