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The Character of our Profession

By Blake West, President, Kansas National Education Association

The high school where I taught for many years has a tradition at Commencement – faculty members participate in the ceremony by each taking a group of graduates to be responsible for, helping the students get ready with cap and gown for the procession. Faculty members also wear cap and gown from their respective institutions of higher education. Then, the faculty forms two rows through which the graduates file as they march into the hall for the ceremony.

What may have started, at one time, as a way to ensure that graduates weren’t smuggling contraband Silly String, etc. into the ceremony has become much more. As these young people with whom we had worked so closely for several years made their way through the faculty, we had a chance for a hug or a handshake, a “congratulations,” and even an occasional tear. It became one of the high points of my teaching career – an event I looked forward to each May.

My wife describes similar emotions each May when the preschool where she teaches holds its Commencement and students graduate to another classroom or even to kindergarten. I suspect that educators in all roles and at all levels have this same sense of nostalgia, accomplishment and melancholy as our students move on to bigger and better things.

We invest our lives so deeply in helping our students succeed. Our greatest joy and sense of fulfillment likely comes from making a difference with a student who reaches her/his potential or overcomes some challenge. It is part of our character as educators to care so deeply about our students.

As we grow in our professional understanding, we realize that community support and decisions by policymakers affect our lives and the opportunities afforded our students.   Increasingly, we become advocates beyond our schools and classrooms. Our commitment to help each student is deepened by the values at the heart of our profession: public education is the key to preparing students for a democratic society and the means to help each one achieve and succeed, regardless of wealth or background. Hope and possibility are at the heart of our commitment.

Teachers tend to be the people who recognize the potential, the worth and dignity of each student. And we bring that combination of caring, discernment and expertise together in dedicated service.

This past year, KNEA members extended their dedicated commitment to their students and to public education far beyond the walls of our schools or the boundaries of our school districts. Members across Kansas took extra time to interview candidates and ask them if they would truly support public schools and our students. Members went the next step to work in greater numbers than ever before on behalf of candidates who indicated their support for our crucial work.

This spring, members continued their commitment by serving as the voice for our profession at the local, state and national levels. Some worked to ensure that state legislators understood the funding needs of schools. More recently, many have let our congressional delegation in Washington know that the No Child Left Behind act holds great promise – if key elements are fixed and if the law is fully funded.

Many in our profession experienced more than their share of challenges to overcome this year. Our colleagues in Seneca were called upon to teach in makeshift classrooms across the community when their elementary and middle school was destroyed by fire. The community of Greensburg is beginning the monumental task of rebuilding a community. And many other members, students and families are recovering from the flooding and other storms across Kansas.

While the work of rebuilding and renewal is just beginning, the commitment to helping and the spirit of hope and possibility continues to grow among the members of KNEA.

School supplies, books and donations began to flow to Seneca from KNEA members across the state shortly after hearing of the fire. Members redoubled their donations to relief agencies in the wake of tornadoes… and even more will be needed. KNEA has set aside books from the annual Reading Circle project to help replenish libraries and classrooms in both Seneca and Greensburg. Teachers and students have volunteered in a variety of ways to help the recovery efforts. And many members continue to extend their thoughts and prayers on behalf of colleagues, students and families.

Greensburg High School held its graduation recently utilizing two large tents set up on a golf course – one of the few places not still covered with debris from the storm. The melancholy and joy was undoubtedly a little deeper for those students, families and faculty. But the message is the same – education transforms lives and is the key to building, or rebuilding, the future for our students, our communities and our nation.

I hope you have had a tremendously successful and rewarding school year. The impact that you’ve had on your students is deeper, more significant than you will likely ever realize. Thank you for that commitment. And I hope you join me in looking forward to next year with excitement and enthusiasm, too.

Until then, have a productive and renewing summer!

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