How do you become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, journalist, or carpenter? No one becomes anything without being taught. Linda Darling-Hammond once said, “Teaching is the profession on which all other professions depend”. It is essential for life to be possible or develop. Teaching is what allows people to become anything they dream to be, so long as they have a passion for learning.

It is not like doctors or nurses who aid people until there is no one left to help. It is not like scientists and engineers who discover new places and ways until there are no new things to find. As generations pass by, people will age and forget any given information, but as Albert Einstein stated, “education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned”. As long as people roam the earth, there are people to teach. And, there is so much information, detail, knowledge, and direction this world can display to each one of us. 7.837 billion people are on this earth who have the ability to learn and see one thing completely different, and this is what empowers education to prosper. 

My mother is an art teacher; she shows children how to change their perspective and makes them look at the world through their own lens for recreation. My father is a health teacher; he shows how to care for everything around us, including ourselves so we can continue living and allow life to flourish even on the smallest levels. Above that, my mother is an administrative director and my father is the athletic director. Education lets people climb a ladder, and this ladder is full of challenges. It is full of obstacles that will test you, but in the long run will benefit you more than money ever can. It gives you characters traits only you can obtain. 

Children are the ones we teach most, but anyone can have child-like eyes to continue learning in the best way. Daniel J. Boorstin notes that “Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know”. It is discovering any wonder and being inspired by whatever this world conveys to you. It is leading the younger generations into new futures that are full of discoveries, recognitions, and advancements that await. We teach all the time to prepare for the unknown. I want to be one more person who can help lead children into the untold future. 

I aspire to be just like my parents: having a faith based life in education. They went into education wanting to positively impact the lives of many children. They teach whole-heartedly and are dedicated to leading with love. They tell stories all the time about what cool activities or adventures their students are doing, and they are able to do this because they put in so much effort to grow a connection. 

I am lucky to see all the behind the scenes work that gets put into being an outstanding teacher. They not only stay in the classroom for hours on end to make each day count, but put in outside hours. My parents have been able to help children immensely, but also entire families from their generous actions. For example, the school my mother works at in Hartland allows for their lost & found items to be donated to the school my father works at in Milwaukee where students aren’t provided as much. Actions like these do not go unnoticed, but are greatly valued. 

My dream: a dream that was theirs once, my parents, that I strive to continue someday.  Thank you for listening.