Donald Trump, Jr. recently spoke to a group of teens, and encouraged them to NOT listen to their "loser teachers." That stung. Though it was only a brief period of my life, I look back at my years in the classroom with fondness. But I wondered if I would be among those he considers losers.
I did lose a few minutes of instruction time once when I took a fifth grader aside to console him after the death of his grandfather, with whom he was close.
I lost some amount of my private time when I visited my students who had been hospitalized due to illness or accident.
I lost part of my discretionary income each year when I purchased, with my own money, materials I knew would enhance my instruction and hopefully enrich the lives of the children in front of me.
None of these actions had any direct relationship to their report card grades or their achievement test scores. I only know they were appreciated because I was told that by the students themselves or their parents.
So I will hold in abeyance the question of whether I, personally, am among those teachers Trump, Jr. considers losers. But I want to believe that if those students were touched by my actions, and then passed them on to others as they grew and matured, they themselves became winners. And that is a hope that is universal to ALL teachers--even the "losers."
I'm Jim Kline, and that is my Perspective.
