NANOS GIGANTIUM HUMERIS INSIDENTES

I defy anyone to find another profession that has such a direct and profound impact on every other profession as teachers do...hell, that even has half of the impact that teachers have. Yet, too often during recent years some of our national leaders have chosen to belittle the well-educated, calling them "elitists" and mocking the educational achievements of people with whom they disagree as a cheap way to try and win an argument. It is, after all, an easy way to win an argument – discredit your opponent, rather than his argument.

Aside from being sad - truly sad, attacking education is reckless, because these comments serve to minimize the importance of schools. Even more, comments like these alienate those that find joy in education from their peers.

Education offers the student the opportunity to explore; to discover areas of interest that might lead the student to make world-changing contributions. The classroom, of course, isn’t the only place that exploration takes place, but if often begins in the classroom. It’s where one is first introduced to ideas in a way that do not – YET – have any real, practical application (that time will come, though, as that student starts her career…thanks to the education). It is the place where that student learns the tools that she needs to explore…to discover… to contemplate existential questions.

Think about it. Education is the one industry that affects every other industry. Obviously, we expect doctors and nurses to be well-educated, and they are. But where did their desire to become doctors and nurses come from? These people didn’t wake up one day and *POOF!*::DOCTOR! Most likely there was a science teacher in grammar school or high school that inspired and excited that student, so that they were willing to embark on that voyage of discovery in the medical sciences. The same is true of lawyers, who probably enjoyed the precision of writing and took joy from reading. Engineers were likely fascinated by Physics. Accountants may have enjoyed both social studies and math. But these are lofty, prestigious careers that, of course, require extensive education, and, as such, that early childhood fascination wasn’t enough to get them to where they are today…it was a start, though.

What might have happened if these people weren’t introduced to those topics?

What about other jobs? When you walk into a gas station, the attendant uses basic arithmetic. The carpenter that built your house uses the same geometric principals that are discussed by Euclid and Pythagoras.

The products of education surround us. We should not mock the educated, we should embrace them….NO! We should MARVEL at them! Because where would life without the years of study and thought - and application of thought - by which we built the world.

nanos gigantium humeris insidentes:: standing on the shoulders of giants