The caption above says it all because no matter how much you pay a teacher I don't think that they will be adequately paid. When one is to add up the cost of the extra time spent in the classroom, the amount of knowledge that is deposited into ones brain from them, the sacrifices they make to teach every day, it is impossible to put a cost to it. Unlike other professions there will always be a need for teachers as they are an important cog in the development for every country. This article will seek to highlight some of the great teachers that I know of as well as to make the point that teachers are to be recognized even more tangibly for their efforts.
When one stops to think about it, it can be argued that everything one knows is because of a teacher. Even if you got the information online, it was from a person that was taught by teacher so when you look at it, it is not erroneous to argue that teachers are probably the most important profession in the world. The doctors get their knowledge from teachers, and so too lawyers, electricians, masons, carpenters, engineers, dentists, nurses and the list goes on and on. Even our teachers were taught by teachers. I guess when we look back God was the first teacher and he gave the first set of teachers the knowledge necessary to teach others and extend the knowledge continuum.
Yet we continue to live in a world where teachers are still underpaid and not well looked out for. For the most part they are stuffed into a crammed staffroom with hardly any luxuries. While I do not expect a staffroom to look as luxurious as a lawyer's chambers for example, I do believe that we can do better for them. To this day there is no teacher's lounge in Nevis where all teachers can go and play pool, dominoes or anything of the sort. There also seems to be an increase in incidents of hostility whether physical or otherwise to teachers by both parents and students, making teaching all the more undesirable.
I will forever be indebted to all my teachers from primary school to university. Teachers don't only teach but they counsel, they encourage, they check to see how you are doing and in some cases may even buy you a drink or two if you are lucky. It is so sad that these people are looked down on as mere teachers while lawyers, doctors and the like are held in high regard. I remember teachers such as teacher Marian (mother of the Honourable Patrice Nisbett) from my pre-school days. Some of my favourite primary school teachers included Julitta Parris and Norlene Smithen who still are teachers to this day. These were more than mere teachers to me and I can never be able to repay them. I am to hope that the present day students respect them for the excellent teachers that they are.
I had so many great teachers in high school that it would be unfair to list all the names. However I hold no water in my mouth when I say that there was no better teacher in high school than one Chesley Manners from Gingerland (co-host of the popular radio program Good Old Days on Choice FM). Here was a teacher who was not only knew his stuff but was also the consummate professional, a great friend and advisor to this day. He gave me a bit of advice as a student that I still use in my everyday life and I am eternally grateful to him for that bit of advice. However, I am sure if you ask him he would not know what he told me. If I was in Japan and Mr. Chesley Manners wanted me to come to Nevis to tie his shoe laces I think I would hop on the next plane to come to Nevis to do it.
At the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College in St Kitts I would particularly like to mention the Literature duo of Mrs. Gwendolyn Nisbett and Ms. Wanda Hughes. They as well as Mrs. Dawn Jeffers (new deputy principal of CSS) are particularly special to me. Literature has always been my favourite subject and no commendation would be too high or great for them with regards to how much they have helped to develop my writing and analytical skills. If I write well it is mainly because of them while if I don't write well it is because I didn't listen to them well enough.
Teacher's month should not go by every year just like that. We ought to pay more meaningful respect and admiration for those teachers that have played their role in enabling us to have better lives and be good citizens. I believe that teachers should be paid even more than other civil servants because when one really stops to consider it we would all really be nothing without teachers. Some teachers have gone through all the academic training and their income still pales in comparison to other professions. I for one would be willing to lead any charge for an increase in the salaries. However even if teachers get a monumental increase in their salary and significant improvements in their working environment, I would still think that teachers will never be adequately paid.
