In just about three weeks, I will bring to an end twenty years of teaching in public schools. It’s been an interesting process, and I have acquired many opinions regarding public education.

Each of these opinions has been hard-earned through experience in classrooms with students and changing education policies. From a teacher’s perspective, most of these policies were enacted by well-meaning, but completely misguided officials.

I could write a super-sized volume, and may in the future, about these experiences. For this post, however, I decided to let the quotes of a few well-known individuals give you a glimpse into how the past 20 years have shaped my outlook.

The Quotes

“Modern cynics and skeptics see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.” - John F. Kennedy

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives a formal education.” - Albert Einstein

• From curriculum expectations, to testing, to the multitude of social issues schools are tasked with dealing with, Mr. Einstein’s quote is worth pondering.

“To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." - Theodore Roosevelt

• This one thought goes a long way in explaining the violence our schools, and society are facing.

The McNamara Fallacy: The tendency to make the measurable important rather than making the important measurable.

• Mr. McNamara used this viewpoint to the very distinct disadvantage of thousands of young American men and women serving in Vietnam. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop with Vietnam. It handily explains the view toward “high stakes testing" of American students in K-12 today.

“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” - John W. Gardner

“If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.” - Donald D. Quinn

• I don’t know whether I should feel proud that I was able to accomplish this for 20 years, or feel foolish for trying.

“Teachers, please pardon this interruption…”

• This is the statement made over the public address system, usually 1-3 times daily, at the school I will soon be retiring from.
• It is then followed by statements of needs that pertain to only a few members of the student body, and not the entire school who have been inconvenienced and interrupted.
• This is not exclusive to my current school, but happens across the country day in and day out.

Does This Relate To Wealthy Affiliate?

Well, yes it does. When I'm sitting on my porch writing blogs, I will still be teaching. Every one of us is teaching. Blogs thoroughly researched and well written with the most relevant keywords are very similar to well-crafted lessons. Every reader of every blog becomes a student to our “lessons.”

Testing happens every day for Wealthy Affiliate members, too. If our posts are relevant and meaningful to human readers and Google, our sites and incomes continue to grow. We get to “matriculate” on to the next level of increasing success. Maybe even join other members in Las Vegas once a year.

And finally, as I sit creating my blogs, I can be eternally grateful that I’m no longer at the mercy of unexpected and unwanted announcements asking my pardon. I have access to other members who are focused on the same goal, and are always happy to help get me over a snag and on to my goal.

Change is Good and I'm Ready For This One

I am so excited about this change that I can hardly contain myself. I will finally be able to treat my business as a full time job complete with full time hours to invest into it.

What a delight to be able to close the door on one chapter of my life while knowing what’s waiting just beyond the next. What an adventure! And, now I’m wondering,.. what Wealthy Affiliate adventure are you creating? I’d love to hear.