I Tip My Hat

Everyday, millions of children attend some institution of learning. They learn to read, write, spell, add, subtract, and various other miniscule skills that we began taking for granted a long time ago. Children gain confidence, esteem, and memento as they broaden their horizons and discover their environments. I reminisce of when I was in the second grade. It was Thanksgiving and I had just written my first long paragraph. It was approximately five sentences.explaining what exactly I was thankful for and what I wanted to eat. My mother kept the precious piece of work for me to cherish, and I still do. If I had never learned to read or write, I wouldn't be able to function in college, nor cherish my 12 year old piece of literary brilliance. I wouldn't be able to pursue my passion of communicative arts. Had I not had great teachers, including my parents, I wouldn't be a third of what I am able to be at this moment. I tip my hat to the educator. You all, singlehandedly and directly, are literally shaping our very world. Humans are born into this world with a very limited amount of knowledge. We are restricted to our instinctual habits and behaviors.We must learn all aspects of taught wisdom. The human mind must be carefully molded and constructed into a valuable tool. From birth all the way to adulthood, we master more than a million individual pieces of information from which we incorporate into the functionalism of our daily lives. Rarely do we stop and give credit to those who shaped our intellect into the complexity it is today. When we balance our checkbooks, read our favorite novels, watch the weather channel, or travel abroad, we are honing in on mathematical, literary, scientific, and geographical knowledge that would inhibit us had we not had access to our respective educational journeys.

Teachers are some of the most underpaid, underappreciated, and compassionate people in this nation. Educators face severely limited salaries at the elementary and middle grade levels. They are responsible for building the minds of our future leaders. Teachers serve as role models, confidants, adolescent delegates, and education activists. They are the foundations of our communities, creating positive learning environments. They foster safe retreats for children who face domestic violence or threatening home atmospheres. They manufacture geniuses.and America doesn't want to pay them half as much as those who manufacture cigarettes.

Educators are the indirect backbones of intellectual and economical progression. We go to grade school to prepare ourselves for post-secondary institutions. We attend colleges and universities to gain experience, professionalism, and discipline needed to ensure our marketability and competiveness when we are ejected into the national job market. While we soar beyond the suns and stars and our original potentials, our educators remain on the ground, gassing their students with fuels of scholarship and erudition. Whether they be our parents, professors, or aerobic instructors, they give us the will to go. And when we fail or fall and return to their classrooms, they give us the courage to keep going.

In many families, the old tradition of tipping the hat represents a gesture of thankfulness and gratitude. It is simple, yet strong. It is short and brief, yet memorable and everlasting. I tip my hat to the educator. We are not born into greatness.we must learn it from someone else.