Educators are held to higher standard and for good reason

Matt Pearl

I was sitting in a local eating establishment the other day when a couple of unfamiliar faces entered the restaurant.

Small towners are notorious for staring at unknown folks, so I chose only to steal a casual glance now and then, searching to see if I recognized either of the young women seated. I did not.

But I turned to my folks, who were seated at the same table as I was, and said, “I’ll bet they’re teachers. You can just kind of tell by looking.”

Sure enough, I was right, as I later discovered.

In the days since the experience, I have asked myself: “How did I know they were teachers? What makes teachers ‘stick out’ in a crowd?”

I still don’t have an answer, but the fact that many of us are so readily able to identify our community educators – even teachers and coaches we haven’t met – speaks to the importance of having solid educators within the community.

Our small towns welcome teachers and coaches fairly frequently, and each time we do so we wonder, “What does the future hold for this teacher? Will he or she be here in five years? ten? thirty?” It’s impossible to know. But that does little to keep us from wondering.

When I was beginning my teaching career, the administrators of the school sat us new teachers down and spoke plainly to us about community expectations of small-town educators. I appreciated their blunt remarks: I’ve never dealt well with subtle messages.

They told me that I would be held to a higher behavior standard than my neighbor, who made $20,000 more than me at his job. They informed me that if I were seen partying or raising cain that I would likely incur the wrath of my community. It was obvious to me that a double standard was at work.

It was no big deal to me to hear this: while I would never label my own actions as ideal, I certainly was in no habit of misbehaving in public, or flaunting any embarrassing behavior. But it did give me the opportunity to consider the teacher’s role in the community, and how they are viewed by others.

Teachers are, in my experience, well respected in the districts they serve. Community members often defer to the teachers’ judgments on matters, and the level of education that teachers must attain to be certified typically garners respect as well. But there’s more to the story, you see.

When folks believe that you are exceptional, the worst thing you can show them is the ordinary. The mistakes that a town will permit in other civilians they will not forgive when teachers commit them. Does that sound unfair? It might be unfair, but teachers would all do well to give the matter their serious attention.

At the root of all of this is the fact that a community values – treasures – its children, and a new teacher is, for a time, a stranger that we are entrusting with the wellbeing of our kids. That’s a sacred trust, teachers. You will never oversee the safety and growth of any commodity more precious – until, of course, you have children of your own.

So any new teachers reading this, please don’t misconstrue my message as a word of warning: I write not to intimidate you, but to enlighten you to the awesome fact that your new community has, by default, placed you upon a high pedestal.

That being said, that same community would not take lightly any abuse of their respect for you. Being a teacher is an important job, and our expectations are high.