I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd annual Dean's Convocation for the Caine College of the Arts and hear Dr. Robert Blocker, Dean of Music at Yale. He said something that stuck with me, well, a lot of things, but this one especially. He said "How do you best invest in the future of our civilization, our way of life? Invest in education. "
Remember that when you feel like society thinks we teachers are unimportant, or whiny, or overpaid. We foster the knowledge and talents that will build our future.
Education was a prominent part of the presidential debate, too. I think "invest in education" for some people has become a platitude--something that everyone says, but not everyone does. Also, I think it matters HOW we invest in education because sometimes money is invested in ways that are very negative (stricter evaluations of/regulations for teachers) instead of on things that matter (getting quality materials for students; getting better education for teachers so they can support their students more fully).
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