Teachers - What Keeps Them Going

Except taken from "Just Thoughts of a Plain Country Woman" by Lucile Ellingwood Morrow, August 28, 1960,  in The Collinsville News.

"One of the teacher's constant tasks is to take a roomful of live wires and see that they are properly grounded.
This does not mean that the child's personality is submerged, that his individuality is squelched, that his independence is conquered. It does mean that his personal powers are discovered and directed into creative and productive activities to be used the rest of his
life for both livelihood and pleasure.
It does mean that the teacher may direct his thinking into channels of responsible living, a critical examination of himself and his work and of our national and international situation.
The pendulum in education is swinging back again into the theory that thinking is called a duty. No amount of gadgets will free us of our need to think. . . .
This is the challenge of the dedicated teacher. Our job is big and important and worthwhile. 
With all the patience, and sometimes impatience, with all the petty annoyances, and little triumphs, we see the power that we have when we plant the first seeds in young minds that will grow and reach out to better the world of the future.
What a challenge to teachers to know that the future businessmen,
w r it e r s , parents, teachers. and politicians, among whom will be the future presidents of the United States, are sitting in front of them,  every day listening to and absorbing whatever ideas they 
give them!"

Note:  Ms. Morrow taught 4th grade at Washington Elementary during the 1950'a and 1960's and held students to high standard. She was demanding but fair and challenged each child to reach their full potential.  She was my 4th grade teacher in 1957-58.  Source:  Dr. Kathleen Morrow, grand-daughter.