Eye On Illinois: For young teachers, their future is our future

For the past couple of years, in early May, someone from the editorial team has asked me to write a column coinciding with teacher appreciation pages.

Sometimes that yields reflections on important mentors who shaped my youth. Or I’ll write about the special people who bonded with and positively changed my own children. Today, after scrolling through social media posts replete with fresh-faced college graduates ready to take on the world, I’m thinking of those teachers who have yet to see their own names outside a classroom door.

There are more jobs than teachers in Illinois – another annual tradition is the mid-March look at the freshest educator shortage data – but there also are districts that routinely field more applicants than match openings. Teachers often bear a substantial portion of public rancor over annual spending on public employees and pensions, certainly more derision than is heaped on firefighters or conservation officers.

And yet we celebrate teachers throughout the year. Back in my old assignment editor days, it was a treat to dispatch a reporter to cover an innovative classroom project or retirement festivities for a beloved veteran. To capture the energy around a special fundraiser or profile an award-winning arts or athletic endeavor.

One working theory about any batch of college graduates seeking to become first-year teachers is that most can be sorted into two camps: those who can name several influential educators from childhood they seek to emulate, and those who wish someone had supported them and have committed to being there for future generations.

“Yeah, but they get their summers off!”

Sure, the buildings are closed for a few weeks in July. And no one is forced to work summer school, coach middle school track and field or advise student council. But year over year, it becomes clearer that those who thrive in the classroom do so because of passion.

I try not to share too personally in favor of encouraging readers to become active, involved citizens who understand how government works, but the older I get, the more I can’t comprehend people who have nothing good to say about teaching as a career or educators in general. Public institution, private academy, home school – if you’re giving that much of yourself to prepare young people for life, it’s a certainty your bank balance doesn’t tell the whole story of what goes in and comes out.

And so this month, colleges all over harvest a new crop of teachers. Would that all of them embark on four decades of impact and influence, including filling vacancies in low-income districts and odd specialties. None will be perfect, some will be deeply flawed. But they showed up to try. Their future is our future, and it’s already begun.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.