Teachers and Education

Sometimes I want to shout out at a school official when they talke about "teachers".  You see I believe that there is no such thing as a "teacher".  You cannot teach anyone anything if they are not receptive to what information you are presenting them.  This is where I believe that the real problems lie in our education system.

We have a lot of "teachers" and a lot of educators.  What is the difference?  A teacher goes into the classroom with an itenary and presents what they know to a large group of students.  They are determined to cover all of the material on their list for that day no matter how much of the actual material is absorbed by the students.  An educator goes into the classroom with the same material to cover but does not hesistate to either slow down or speed up the presentation of the material dependent on how the students are responding to the material. 

After having raised a grandson with autism and having to deal with the public education system, I saw more and more how many "teachers" we have and how few "educators" there are.  This especially becomes a problem with children with Autism.  These children do not think and repond as "normal" children do.  They require a "teacher" who can quickly recognize how the children are responding and how their interests are so important in educating them.

The children with Autism require "educators" who can adapt, redirect, at times develop new methods of presenting material to these children.  I have had experience with the "teachers" in our public education system and with the "educators", in other words the mechanical robots and the real instructors.  What is the difference between the two.  This is my opinion only so you may ignore it if you please.  Teachers are those who go to the school daily but do not have the real interest in the children but in presenting their material and getting out.  The educators are those who go into the classroom and do everything in their power to focus the attention of the students and present the material in such a way that reatins the students interest for the entire class period.

This makes the "educator's" job much more difficult than the "teacher".  It takes a real interest in the future of the students, a desire to impart knowledge to young minds, and most of all a caring for each of the students and what they are capable of achieving in life.

This was not written to slam anyone but to possibly open some parent's mind to the possibility that their children are being taught by "teachers" not "educators"

In the future, I will discuss the problems that one encounters when trying to get an Autistic child through our public school system.