I am proud to say that I am the son of a teacher. My mother
taught fourth and fifth grade. Well, that is until I came around. I have always
said that her career in education was the first of several that I ended. I also
knew that Mom was a good teacher, but it seems that I am constantly reminded by
her former students just how good she was at teaching.
Let’s just say that her last year of teaching was over forty
years ago and we will protect the age of all involved (including myself). There
are very few things in this world that stand the test of time and especially
four decades of time, but the impact my mother had on her students certainly
did. Over the years I have met many of her former students and most have told
me that Mom was their favorite teacher.
I also think it says a lot that both my sister and I went
into youth work. My sister is a high school English teacher and I suspect she
has the same impact that my mother did. I chose to go into 4-H work and I can
only hope that in forty years my former 4-Hers will remember me as fondly as my
mother’s students remember her. OK, so enough of the bragging on my mother, if
she were alive she would really be embarrassed and probably a little peeved at
me for writing this. So what is my point?
During my career in Extension we were asked each year to
document the meaningful results and impacts we had during the past year. It was
not hard in the agriculture part of my job. I could say I helped x amount of
farmers with y problem and it resulted in this amount of economic benefit or a
certain amount of increased production. Even in the area of community
development I could say I did this and this impact was the expected benefit.
Those of us who have worked with youth know that documenting
impacts and successes is just a bit harder. I often said, tongue in cheek that
I was going to write down in my reports that none of my 4-Hers had been
arrested in the past year and therefore I had saved the county several thousand
dollars in court and jail costs. However, I also recognized that the kids I
worked with would not get in trouble whether I as their 4-H agent or not. The
bottom line is that those who work with youth often do not see the successes
for many years but the benefits are profound.
Mom has been gone for several years now and I miss her each
day, she put the same energy and dedication into being a farm wife and mother
that she did into teaching. I guess that is why I always am lifted up when I
meet one of her former students. I find it amazing just how much impact
elementary teachers have and I can only wish that she heard from her students
like I have over the years. I also know that what I have experienced is not
uncommon or unusual for the children of teachers. Which makes me wonder why we
don’t seek out those teachers who have made a difference in our lives and tell
them.
Those are the impacts that each person who chooses any other
kind of youth development work hopes to make on the kids they are charged with.
We hope that something we do will push, pull, prod or inspire just one person
on to bigger and better things, but we are never quite sure. You feel good
about what you do, you know it is the right thing to do, but measurable results
are often years and lifetimes away.
I am quite sure that teachers are among the most patient
professions, just by that very nature. It also makes me wonder just why we
don’t hold them up, why we don’t put them on a higher platform. Each of us has
been helped and inspired by a teacher and we credit them for helping us achieve
whatever success we have accomplished, many times we don’t come to that
realization for many years.
I will close this out before I get to gushy, because Mom
would not have liked that either. She believed that whatever you did, you did
it well and you did not do it to get praised. I will just say that there is
something comforting and reassuring each time I talk with one of her former
students. To them even after forty plus years, early impacts are meaningful and
important.
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