Teacher Appreciation is Imperative to the School Community

By Tiffany Torrez

The teacher shortage is a problem throughout our district and even nationwide, but does anyone ever think about why these teachers are leaving left and right? 

Atrisco Heritage Academy High School is no exception to the ubiquitous struggles with a teacher shortage. Students and other teachers complain about this issue, but they never seem to think about the reasoning behind the problem.

When teachers are absent, many kids are left without teachers and sent to E-Lecture, which most students say is a waste of time. When students are sent to E-Lecture they have nothing to do, and this prevents them from learning. All of the students complain about not having a teacher, but it's because throughout all of the countless hours of grading, teaching, and lesson planning all teachers they get in return is disrespect and attitude. No wonder they need a break! The purpose of school is to learn, and many students have forgotten or decided to ignore that. Students can sometimes forget that teachers are just people too; they have feelings and a life outside of school. 

Just like students need motivation to push through, so do educators.  If teachers were more appreciated, it would encourage them to do more for their students.

Jasmine Navarrate, a sophomore at Atrisco said, “Most teachers don't even teach. They just give us work and expect us to know what we have to do.” Mrs. Young, a band teacher, disagrees. She says, “You know, us as teachers can only do so much, we will do our part but it's up to the students to meet us halfway.” Interviewing both teachers and students about this topic it shows that there are always different sides to a story. Teachers will always try to help, but if they can see that their students don't want to put in the effort, neither will they.

I believe that if teachers received more appreciation from their students it would improve the overall classroom environment and our school. Just a simple note, email, or even a “thank you for all you do” would mean so much to teachers. This generation needs to work on showing appreciation more, in general. This isn't regarding just teachers, but family and friends as well; everyone should feel important to someone.  If students want better teachers then we need to be more considerate and change our patterns of being ungrateful towards people who are trying to help us. Teachers are the foundation to every generation, and we must never take them for granted.