Great teachers, like many things, are in short supply nowadays.  Is it because we are willing to pay far more for entertainment then we are to educate our future? That it is a thankless job fraught with dangers and very few rewards? Who knows, but the current climate proves that we need teachers who can do more crack a book and write equations on a chalk board.

What kind of impacts can such teachers have on the lives of their students?

One is reminded of an elderly instructor who decided to take on a few struggling, but brilliant inner city youths. Thirteen young boys in all, she spent not only class time, but after school time building them up and making them see their potential.  All thirteen of these boys, who were either destined to be killed in a drug sho0t out or bound for jail, graduated high school and went on to be lawyer's, doctors and men of esteem. The woman not only taught from a book she taught from a heart.

And perhaps this is another reason for the recent disparity in regards to quality teachers.

The teachers of today cannot take the hands on approach that my elder example did.  While we ponder allowing prayer and paddling in school, hugs from student to teacher and vice versa can be punished.    Even a visit to a student's home is discouraged in today's politically charged times.

This environment is making it near impossible to create the astoundingly wonderful teachers of yesteryear.  A huge portion of the capacity to shape young minds is the ability to meet them on a personal level.  When we place protective glass in front of that process, we cut down this invaluable discourse. There is of course, a reason for these walls.  Teachers who have crossed lines and had inappropriate relations with students have created an element of paranoia. This has made the innocent interest in the lives of students by capable caring teachers suspicious.

But then, one has to use reason I with such situations.   Most people are smart enough not to risk their reputations and livelihoods for a fling.  Most mentally healthy people that is.  One can hardly argue that anyone who harms a child is psychologically of sound of mind.

But how do we balance a need to protect our kids with a teacher's ability to reach them in ways that will foster a thirst for learning?

We can encourage the government to offer incentatives for quality educators to enter the public school arena, penalizing those who falter, and uplifting those who go the extra mile to spark the imagination of young, flowering minds.