Taken for Granted

Last week, I had a professor ask our class what percentage of people continue their formal education after high school. As we began to ponder the answer, he said, "in your world it's around 100%." This comment shocked me. To be honest, I was thinking it had to be around 75%. I mean this was not college graduation rates we were talking about. This was attending some college. I honestly think that I could count on my two hands how many people my age I know who did not at least attend some college. In reality, this number is just slightly higher than 50%. This fact really did shake me up a little bit. Perhaps the bubble that I'm living in is a little bit smaller than I thought.

This theme of education popped up a number of times this past week. In my small group, we were asked to talk about our favorite teacher. I struggled to narrow it down to just one while many in the group struggled to think of one. Again, this shocked me. I always had teachers that cared about my progress as well as my personal well being. Some of them even still keep in touch. Two of my high school teachers, "The Sacred Team," taught history and have a Facebook page dedicated to history with thousands of followers consisting of decades of students whose lives they made an impact on...in a seriously boring subject I might add. I went to public school and assumed that all other public school students had a similar experience. How have I gone through life for so long taking my opportunities for granted?

A friend from my high school class recently posted her thankfulness for this education and for the value her parents placed on it. I have to second that and give thanks to all of the wonderful individuals who have built into me and spent time building creative and memorable lesson plans that obviously could have been taken directly from a textbook. Allow me to now say THANK YOU to all of the teachers who care!

P.S. You should check out The Sacred Team on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sacred-Team/371757704337. They rock!