The first week of May is Teacher Appreciation Week in America. For 2018, it comes at a moment when teachers across the country are asserting their rights by striking for fair pay and increased school funding.
Teachers this week in Pueblo, Colorado, crossed picket lines. They’re asking for a modest 2% pay raise and an extra $30 a month to pay for health care. But they’re not just standing up for their pocketbooks; it’s about school books, too.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Julie Cain told NBC. “Sometimes we have old textbooks that are falling apart. We don’t have computers in our classroom.” The teachers of Pueblo join those who’ve recently stood up for themselves and their schools in West Virginia, Kentucky, Arizona, and Oklahoma.
Teacher Appreciation Week reminds us to never take for granted those who have helped mold our minds and characters. In celebration of teachers everywhere, here’s a list of inspiring quotes that show how important they are to us.
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.” ― Alexandra K.Trenfor
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” — Anonymous
“The future of the world is in my classroom today, a future with the potential for good or bad. … Several future presidents are learning from me today; so are the great writers of the next decades, and so are all the so-called ordinary people who will make the decisions in a democracy. I must never forget these same young people could be the thieves and murderers of the future. Only a teacher? Thank God I have a calling to the greatest profession of all! I must be vigilant every day, lest I lose one fragile opportunity to improve tomorrow.” — Ivan Welton Fitzwater
“I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” ― Haim G. Ginott
“One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai
“There’s no word in the language I revere more than ‘teacher.’ My heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher, and it always has. I’ve honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming a teacher.” — Pat Conroy
“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” — Robert Frost
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcom X
“Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” — Colleen Wilcox
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” — Kahlil Gibran
“To teach is to learn twice over.” — Joseph Joubert
“What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” — Alfred Mercier
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B.B. King
“I’m not sayin’ I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will.” — Tupac Shakur
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” — Mark Van Doren
“Teach the children so it will not be necessary to teach the adults.” — Abe Lincoln
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” — Japanese proverb
