Many have never been taken to church or synagogue in their lives. He said he'd never been told that at home. This is a constant in today's society - two million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in. Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication they witness. Math, science, history and social studies are important, but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by.
Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible people.
Kids need to be accountable to caring parents who send well disciplined children to school. These human values are essential in a democracy-anything that threatens them makes our whole society a little less free, our nation a little less strong. These values can be neither created nor preserved without continuous effort and that effort must come from more than teachers who have students only six hours of the day. Despite the problems, public school teachers laugh often and much. They have the respect of intelligent people and the affection of students who care.