Dear Vintage Teacher,
Teachers are creatures of habit. That pitiful, multi- striped, insulated lunch tote tells the story: same sad sandwich, same bag of plain potato chips, same vanilla yogurt, same Diet Coke. Every day. Same, same, same.
Teachers aren’t anything if they aren’t consistent, and yet, this predictability isn’t reserved for subpar lunches alone. Bell ringers, board work, warm ups, line ups, and bathroom procedures begin to mimic a military drill formation with the passage of time.
“Change is good,” they say. I don’t disagree. We should strive to perfect our craft. New methods, adjustments to our approaches, and adaptability to the times are all staples for success in the world of education, but in the evolution of all things new, let us not forget the old school teachers- the ones who turned the knob on a fuzzy TV to see the Challenger explode while shielding the eyes of seven year olds who would tell their children about the trauma of seeing the harrowing scene live.
Let us not forget the cat eye glasses of our former teachers, microfiche, the Dewey Decimal System, or the pure ecstasy upon seeing a TV/VCR combo cart being wheeled down the hallway for a Friday treat of the Buttercream Gang with 20 of our closest classmates.
Let us not forget fat-lined paper, chubby color crayons, Trapper Keepers, barbeque chips, chocolate milk cartons carried in a plastic milk crate by the line leader, or the teachers who walked us down a brown-tiled path to the Scholastic Book Fair to ensure we did not spend all our parents’ hard-earned cash on kitten posters or neon yellow slap bracelets.
Lastly, let us not forget the teachers who allowed us to sit in their laps as anxious kindergartners and mesmerized us with a simple, yet fashionable, French braid, the same teachers who taught us that kindness matters and one should never smear ketchup in another’s hair.
All of this to say, change- sure. Adapt- of course. Grow- you bet, but in the pursuit, do not forget to give credit where credit is due.
Vintage teachers are not unhip, uncool, or lacking relevance. Quite the opposite, the good ones just keep getting better with age. Besides, last I checked, kindness and stability never go out of style.
Maybe instead of mocking the technology challenges of the old guard, we should pay homage to the greats who stare back at us with smiles from black and white yearbooks as they remind us to never forget where we came from.
Doing so causes us to forget who we are, and without that, how can we possibly know where we are headed next?
-CDB
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