For a profession that dates back to Confucious, the year 561 B.C., it took Eleanor Roosevelt convincing then President Theodore Roosevelt that teachers deserved to have a specific day designated for their appreciation. Eleanors’ intervention in Congress, in 1953, laid the groundwork, but, as with most things in Government, it wasn’t until 1980 when the day became official. Back then it was celebrated on March 7, until it was moved in 1984 after the National PTA got involved. They lobbied to move the Appreciation to May, and succeeded in changing the day to a week.

The National Education Association, established in 1857, never felt the need to officially recognnize their most valuable resource until they joined the efforts of the PTA in 1980. After the PTA succeeded in naming the first week of May, the NEA, in 1985, designated Tuesday of that week as Teacher Appreciation Day.

The history of teaching as a profession in the newly settled, and as of yet unnamed, United States was mainly home and Church based. With a population so scattered, students travelling to school and back took up too much of the day to justify a centralized location. Not until 1635 were the first public schools established, closely followed by “dame” schools, or schools for girls. In Massachusetts and Virginia, laws were passed requiring an elementary school for every 50 families, and a Latin grammar school for every 100 families. By the 1800s, a high school was required for every 500 families, but teachers were often paid little more than room and board.

The 1840s saw many states with organized educational systems requireing teachers to take a certification test for employment. With stricter standards came increased pay and some benefits, which began to attract more, and better, people to the profession. By 1857, the National Teachers Association had been formed, and became the largest labor union in the United States. Improved pay and working conditions began to attract more men to the profession by the 1900s, and, in 1954, the teaching profession began to teaching profession began to adopt new methods after Brown v. Board of Education resulted in the integration of schools nationwide. “No child left behind”, a program adopted by President George Bush, Sr. , is both praised and cursed by teachers and administrators because of the time the new programs require to emphasize certain aspects of education, often at the expense of a more rounded curriculum.

The next generation of teacher was faced with the digital age, with both the advantages and problems presented by electronic teaching aids. Add a growing number of students, and competition for those students by private and charter schools, and a budget that can’t be stretched to cover everything necessary, and todays’ teacher needs more dedication than ever, both to teach, and to withstand the lure of higher salaries with big city private schools.

So, become familiar with your local teachers, recognize the talents and dedication they bring to work with them every day. This group does a job that the rest of us can’t, won’t, or choose not to do, and they do it for not much money and little appreciation.

Thank you, for what you do. You are appreciated, whether we show it or not.