Today is the celebration of an age-old profession that is second only to farming/gardening. It’s the job of the teacher.
Now, maybe you are thinking, “The teaching profession hasn’t been around that long.” Historians tell us that “The history of teaching can be traced to Confucious (561 B.C.), who was the first famous private teacher. Many ancient Greeks hired private teachers to educate their children. In the Middle Ages, learning institutions such as Cambridge University were founded and teacher training became required.”1 However, teaching has existed for a very long time.
Think back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve produced Cain, Abel, Seth, and other children. Who taught them? Who were their teachers? How did they learn about farming and caring for livestock? Obviously their dad and mom served in that role. Therefore, I contend that “teachers” have been around for a very long time.
“In early American Colonial days, housewives and ministers taught. The Pilgrims established the first public school in 1635, and this was followed by “dame” schools, primarily for women. Subsequently, Latin grammar schools that offered a secondary education for boys were formed.
“Massachusetts and Virginia passed laws requiring that for every 50 families, an elementary school was to be built, and for every 100 families, a Latin grammar school. Teachers taught reading, writing and religion in these schools, and much of the teaching was done by requiring students to memorize subject matter.”2
Through the years, the educational system has adapted and changed to the times. Not all changes have been for the best but there have been some exciting advancements that help to prepare kids for the world in which they live. The classrooms have gone “high tech,” with chalk and white boards replaced with Smart Boards, Chromebooks replacing textbooks and written assignments, and visuals/graphics that capture the eye and the imagination. While we may grouse and grumble about these changes, let’s face it. We are in the 21st century, not the 1st century. Those of us who gripe wouldn’t want to go back to an old phone on the wall that you had to crank and we wouldn’t want to go back to using an abacus!
As I said at the beginning, today is a celebration of teachers. It is National Teachers’ Day. “Political and educational leaders began discussions for a day to honor teachers in 1944. In 1953, Eleanor Roosevelt persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim National Teachers’ Day. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day. The National Education Association continued to observe National Teacher Day on the first Tuesday in March until 1985. The National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week of May when the NEA Representative Assembly voted to make the Tuesday of that week National Teacher Day.”3
For those who serve as teachers – public school teachers, private school teachers, Christian school teachers, homeschooling parents, dads and moms, and all those people who serve as substitute teachers (hats off to my wife!) – we celebrate you! Thank you for the impact you are having on kids.
As Christians, we have an awesome responsibility to be teachers of spiritual truths. Consider the words of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Some form of the word “teach” is found at least 105 times in the New Testament alone. After Paul had shared several truths with Timothy, he said in 1 Timothy 4:11, “These things command and teach.”
To be the teachers God intended us to be, we need to be growing and maturing in the faith. Hebrews 5:12 reprimands its audience by saying, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” Is God speaking these words directly to any of us who are failing to grow and mature in order that we might be effective teachers of God’s truth?
Teaching is an exciting profession, especially when you BELIEVE in what you’re teaching. This should be exponentially true for the Christian. Let’s take Paul’s words to Timothy very personally. “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2) And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
1https://classroom.synonym.com/history-teaching-profession-6458025.html
2Ibid.
3https://nationaldaycalendar.com/celebrations/national-teacher-appreciation-day-tuesday-of-the-first-full-week-in-may
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