Teachers Just Fade Away

This time of year is a blur of confusion on high school campuses across the country.  Library books are due, finals are coming up, debts have to be paid, and for seniors, graduation has become a reality.  For teachers, classrooms have to be cleaned, grades finalized, and end of the year parties attended.  What often gets lost in the mix is the emotion.  Another class is on the way out, most of whom teachers will never see again.  Graduates feel excitement, sadness, sentimentality, and fear all at the same time.

Many seniors can not wait for that "get out of jail" card--the high school diploma.  Some will leave with mixed feelings.  High school was a blast for them.  The sports star, popular cheerleader, most spirited ASB member look back with fond memories on those four years wondering if the years to come will be as good.  The wild bunch can't wait to be set free from the 8-3, Monday through Friday cycle.  What they will become is anyone's guess.  Some will marry and settle down, while others will rebel and end up in jail.  Some will step in and take over family business as others will join the military and see the world (a few may even give all for their country).  A smaller percentage than society or the parental community wants to admit will go on, prepared or not for college.  Among them, some will drop out, some will go to a JC and find their calling, and others will excel and do wondrous things. 

Teachers approach graduation largely with a sense of relief--another year is over!  As they watch the graduates pass there will be a few students they hope to never see again, a few they regret not having spent more time and effort on, many that they are confident will be productive members of society, and a few they honestly will miss.  Pride, satisfaction, and, yes, hatred overwhelm the teacher at the end of the year.  As a teacher's career moves along, the number of students grows so large that they can not remember names but always remember faces.  Paths will cross, sometimes in almost reverse roles.  Older teachers undoubtedly end up hospitalized and who is that smiling face looking at them when they awake?  It's Miranda, the quiet but bright girl that sat in your fourth period in the second seat of the second row.  She now ears the uniform of an RN.  You once took care of her but now she is taking care of you.  Or the college graduate or US Marine that comes walking in to shake your hand and say, "thanks."  These encounters are always a bit awkward. 

On his retirement, General Douglas MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away."  I think that holds true for teachers.  Teachers live on in the hearts and minds of many of their students.  A high school teacher with 30 years behind them has crossed paths with almost three thousand students, and if that teacher coaches or is a class advisor that number is even higher.  Most of us--the teachers--do not want praise.  We just want some respect.