WHY DO TEACHERS TEACH? by Blanca

WHY DO TEACHERS TEACH? by Blanca - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

Teachers are hired to teach you a subject, a topic or method. They are employed to help you memorize dates, formulas, definitions, and people. They are to give you lectures – that make your head spin – and assign project – that are completed at the last minute – all while they still manage to grade your quizzes and other papers. A teacher is like a babysitter, a parent, a counselor, and a police officer all rolled into one. Being a teacher is a job that is so demanding, so stressful, and so time consuming, it makes you wonder what people are thinking when they say “I want to be a teacher.”

But for some unknown reason that no one can truly understand, people across this state, across this country, across the world still willing choose to teach. I have to say that that is rather courageous; a courageous act that at times fall short when that teacher hates his or her job, wants to quit, and just doesn't teach anymore.

So I sometimes wonder: why do teachers still teach and how many teachers actually enjoy teaching? How many still love their job? How many care about the subject they teach and know it inside and out? How many treasure the time they have with their student and will happily share the information they know? I wonder: how many teachers, how many educators still have the power to make a student fall in love with learning and with asking the question why?
During my eighth grade, I took it upon myself to apply to the International Baccalaureate Program in Clayton County, Georgia. I applied and got in. The IB program is a program that challenged and prepared me. It is a program that tested my abilities to their limits, and it is the program that introduced me to one of the best teachers of my entire high school career.

I had the same history teacher for two years, and it was on that first day of my junior year when I first met her. I remember that on that same day she assigned us a book report and gave us our first lecture in speed that should not be legal. I remember then thinking “What had I gotten myself into?” I am proud to say that I know the answer to this question – now at least. I now know that I got into a program that provided me with the best education I could personally get and a program that showed me the benefits and advantages of having a good teacher – having a teacher who cares.

My history teacher was demanding but caring. She was kind and honest. She was an educator who challenged me and guided me. She taught me to enjoy a subject I never cared for, and she forced me to memorize dates, time periods, people and historical events. She handed out quizzes like they were presents and brought out the best of me. She was supportive. She was and still is my “History Mom,” a woman who has become one of my greatest role models.
Her name: Sharon Mcmeans-Lukiri – an independent and thoughtful individual who taught me to love learning, to understand the power knowledge holds, and to recognize the role education plays in society and will play in my future.