Public education didn't create these problems but deals with them every day.

You want heroes? Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death
while trying to shield his students from two Neo-Nazi youth on a bombing and
shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders
gave his life, along with 12 students, but other less heralded heroes
survived the Colorado blood bath.

You want heroes? Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC,teacher, was moved by the
plight of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant.
So this pretty white woman told the family of this handsome 14-year old
black boy that she would give him one of her kidneys. And she did. When they
subsequently appeared together hugging on the Today Show, even tough little
Katie Couric was near tears.

You want heroes? Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She
not only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could bring the
best out of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose,
Calif., said she could teach a rock to read. Suddenly she was stricken with
Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is always fatal, usually within five years. She
asked to stay on the job-and did. When her voice was affected she
communicated by computer. Did she go home? She is running two elementary
school libraries. When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and
all the families that she had one last lesson to teach--that dying is part
of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.

You want heroes? Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for Who
Wants to be a Millionaire. After he won the million dollars, a network film
crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life.  New cars? Big new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that would not change. The community was both stunned and gratified.

You want heroes? Last year the average public school teacher spent $468 of
their own money for student necessities -- workbooks, pencils -- supplies
kids had to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the
pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial world.

Public schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong. Public
education provides more Sunday school teachers than any other profession.

The average teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour
employee does in a year.

You want heroes? For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is
the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the
worst parenting in history. Many have never been taken to church or
synagogue in their lives.

A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to
rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk,
one that said I love you! He said he'd never been told that at home. This is
a constant in today's society-two million unwanted, unloved, abused children
in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.

You want heroes? Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of
personal interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by
the dedication they witness.

There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says, We have been so
anxious to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to
give them what we did have.  What is it that our kids really need? What do
they really want? Math, science, history and social studies are important,
but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to,
someone to listen, and standards to live by.

Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible
people.

Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a teacher, or to someone who
should thank a teacher today.........