Education Matters: Teachers key influence on the future of nation

During my years as a professional educator, I mostly worked for the governing board. Early in my career, however, I had two bosses. Dr. Neil Aslin was superintendent of the Columbia public schools. For two years I was his administrative assistant. Mr. Clarence Farnham was superintendent of schools of the Parkway School System in west central St. Louis County. I was the assistant superintendent.

Either man could have been superb as the chief executive officer of a large corporation or industry and either man would have functioned successfully as a highly placed governmental official. They could have done this with panache.

They were visionary, focused, knew how to use the skills and intelligence of others and gave credit when due. They were able to make the best use of the dollars available to achieve the mission of their school districts, and they were kind human beings.

In most communities in this country the superintendent of schools serves more meals, cleans more square feet of space, supervises more people and presides over the expenditure of more money than any other executive in town. Usually we pay the most attention to the superintendent of schools inasmuch as he or she is the educational leader. This is justified.

However, these men and women, who could do anything and make even more money doing it, would admit that they are not the people who best represent what we in education do. It is our child's teacher who captures our attention and has our loyalty and admiration.

The superintendent, for the most part, recognizes this and devotes himself or herself to enriching the teacher's experience by making the work as productive as possible. Both the superintendent and teacher agree that the individual child is the only focus of the school's program.

Would you believe that today, in our society, the group of people with the greatest influence on the future of our nation is the teachers? It should be the family, and for some families the parent is the key adult with the greatest influence on the child, but unfortunately, many families, even good ones, just don't take the time.

So, as a group, the teachers in our communities have more influence on the lives of our children and youth than any others because they take the time. They take the time before, during and after school.

Teachers have our children in the formal schooling process six hours per day, five days per week, 175-plus days per year for 13 years, and that doesn't count the many hours each year sponsoring and supervising extracurricular activities.

Even though the years in the formal classroom represent slightly less than 9 percent of one's life from birth to 18 years of age, this time with teachers is characterized by greater intensity, and a sharper focus. Teachers are teaching, students are learning, teachers care and the students know it.

My two former bosses spent more time focusing on the role of teachers than any other task. Is this why they could have thrived in any important administrative position? They had their priorities straight.

There are many important people in our communities who might influence families, but as a group, none occupy so significant a role as those who teach our children.

What's the point? Our teachers and schools are the point.

Think about it.

(Arthur L. Mallory, EdD, is a former president of Southwest Missouri State University and former commissioner of education who resides in Springfield.)