The Popcorn Stand: Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson

Tuesday was National Teacher Appreciation Day and I can tell you after working as a substitute teacher for a couple of years, I really appreciate what teachers do.

I mean I’ve always appreciated what my teachers did for me throughout my formative years from kindergarten to college. From Mrs. Robinson to Mr. Braly to Mr. Fazio.

I still can’t bring myself to refer to Mr. Braly by his first name. He’ll always be Mr. Braly to me.

But working as a substitute teacher gave me a new appreciation of what teachers go through, what they have to do, what they have to deal with. And after working as a substitute teacher I concluded there’s no way I would want to do this full-time after seeing everything they deal with, everything that’s expected of them.

It takes a pretty special person to want to become a teacher. And I can tell you during my time in the Carson City School District I ran across one teacher who I thought how does this person have a job. EVERY other teacher I came across in the district I found to be a dedicated professional doing the very best they could.

I saw a cartoon that pretty much sums up what teachers go through. It depicted the parents and a child from 50 years ago meeting with the teacher and the parents scolding their child after the teacher informed him their child received a bad grade.

Then the cartoon depicted the same scene today but instead the parents were scolding the teacher for giving their child a bad grade and the child smiling.

So people who complain about teachers’ unions, quite frankly they don’t know what they’re talking about or at least I can’t imagine they’ve ever been in a classroom. Because I have and I can tell you the teachers in Carson City EARN every penny they get.

So here’s to you Mrs. Robinson and all the other teachers. We love you more than you know.

— Charles Whisnand