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| English: A special education teacher assists one of her students. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Some time in the present there was a wealthy man called Bill, he was one of the richest men in the World, he had made his wealthy making and selling electronic devices. Bill was not a selfish man (entirely) He donated large amounts of his money to special causes, and his favorite one was education. However he was not happy he wanted to now how he would be remembered in history.
He happened to be attending a conference on education.
At this conference there was a special education teacher who was addressing the conference she was well known for her compassionate teacher and teaching each child individually Mrs C was very highly respected in her field.
During a coffee break Bill decided to speak to her and ask her advice.
“Rabbi (which in Hebrew means teacher) how may my place in history concerning education be fulfilled?
“By how much time you spend with your children and their education.
“Is that all” said Bill.
Then Mrs C explained to him with a story.
“There a child who was coming out of school after serving detention in a rough part of town, when he was beaten up by a band of kids, while he was lying on the side walk a local businessman came driving by, he saw the kid but drove on. Then the local minister was riding his bike, he thought the gang might be still there but did call the police on his cell phone (they were too busy to come out). A short time after that a teacher was walking home (because his car had broken down) he recognized the child from the hall. He picked him up with help of a lady who was passing by, and took him home to his worried parents who had been concerned about the time. They brought him in cleaned him up, and sent out for pizza, meanwhile they talked. The teacher paid for the pizza and paid for extra supplies for the child, also he got him help with extra tuition which helped him catch up with the others. This motivated the parents to get involved in their child’s education.”
Then Mrs C turned to Bill asked him who was most helpful to the child.? “The one who helped him.” Replied Bill glibly
“Bill sell your business and invest in education by building new schools paying teachers what they deserve and work in the class room with a kid that needs help, that is worth more than all the foundations funding charter schools around”
I dedicate this poor piece to my wife Catherine Cooper Cridland a great teacher and to the millions of dedicated teachers around the World.
I also dedicate this to inlaws Dr Richard T Cooper and Mary Cooper. Dick was a hard worker administator in the LAUSD and the Californian schools Mary was a hard working teacher who inspired my wife.
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