"Where are the heroes of today?"

"Where are the heroes of today?"
> > a radio talk show host thundered.
> >
> > He blames society's shortcomings on education. Too
> > many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong
> > places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes,
> > and models aren't heroes; they're celebrities.
> > Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't
> > make the news. There is no precedent for the level
> > of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and
> > crime in today's America. Education didn't create
> > these problems but deals with them every day.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Consider Dave Sanders, the schoolteacher.... shot to
> > death while trying to shield his students from two
> > youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine High
> > School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his
> > life, along with 12 students, and other less
> > heralded heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by
> > the plight of one of her students, a boy dying for
> > want of a kidney transplant. So this woman told the
> > family of a 14 year old boy that she would give him
> > one of her kidneys. And she did. When they
> > subsequently appeared together hugging on the Today
> > Show, even Katie Couric was near tears.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a
> > teacher. She not only made it, she was one of those
> > wondrous teachers who could bring the best out of
> > every single child. One of her fellow teachers in
> > San Jose, Calif said, "She could teach a rock to
> > read."
> >
> > Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease
> > which is always fatal,
> > usually within five years.
> > She asked to stay on job ..
> > and did. When her voice
> > was affected she communicated by computer.
> >
> > Did she go home? Absolutely not! She is running two
> > elementary school libraries! When the disease was
> > diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families
> > that she had one last lesson to teach .... that
> > dying is part of living. Her colleagues named her
> > Teacher of the Year.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for
> > Who Wants to be a Millionaire. After he won the
> > million dollars, a network film crew wanted to
> > follow up to see how it had impacted his life.
> >
> > New cars?
> > Big new house?
> >
> > Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife
> > still teaching. They explained that it was what they
> > had always wanted to do with their lives and that
> > would not change. The community was both stunned
> > and gratified.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Last year the average school teacher spent $468 of
> > their own money for student necessities ...
> > workbooks, pencils .. supplies kids had to have but
> > could not afford. That's a lot of money from the
> > pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the
> > industrial world.
> >
> > Schools don't teach values?
> > The critics are dead wrong.
> >
> > Public education provides more Sunday School
> > teachers than any other profession.. The average
> > teacher works more hours in nine months than the
> > average 40-hour employee does in a year.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > For millions of kids, the hug they get from a
> > teacher is the only hug they will get that day
> > because the nation is living through the worst
> > parenting in history. An Argyle, Texas kindergarten
> > teacher hugs her little 5 and 6 year-olds so much
> > that both the boys and the girls run up and hug her
> > when they see her in the hall, at the football
> > games, or in the malls years later.
> >
> > A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the
> > story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little
> > boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk ..
> > one that said "I love you!" 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.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > 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. There is a sentence from an unnamed source
> > which says: "We have been so eager to give our
> > children what we didn't have that we have neglected
> > to give them what we did."
> >
> > What is it that our kids really need?
> > What do they really want?
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > You want heroes?
> >
> > Then go down to your local school and see our real
> > live heroes, the ones changing lives for the
> > better each and every day!
> >
> > Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a
> > teacher, or to someone who should thank a teacher
> > today. I'd like to see this sent to all those who
> > cut down the importance of teachers. They have no
> > idea who a public school teacher is or what they do.