What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “teacher?” Pure hatred? The memories of your evil 5th-grade math teacher who was completely out to watch you fail? Or do you smile, reminiscing about that one teacher who made you feel appreciated, talented, and loved?

Whatever it is, we all need to remind ourselves of the havoc teachers must deal with every single day.

From kids coming into class late and asking for papers that were given out an hour ago to kids being absent for a week and then coming into their teachers’ office to ask for all their missed work, teachers certainly don’t have it easy. Though we may have had them for one class a day, we often forget that that’s not all they teach. That teacher who you had for geography may very well also teach 3 sections of algebra and 2 sections of history, all while coaching the softball team every day after school. On top of their insane workload and having to adapt to changing situations, teachers also put in just as much work at home as we do.

Yeah, so we have extracurriculars, rehearsals, etc, and can’t always get our work done in a timely fashion, but the immense amount of work teachers have is just as substantial. Many teachers have a family to feed, groceries to buy, and 100 tests to grade by the next day before getting angry emails from parents about their kids' grades not being up yet. And parents, they’re a whole different story!

The constant emails and appointment requests are enough to fuel another full-time job. Imagine teaching your students everything you possibly knew, racking your brain to re-educate yourself on these topics, and purging yourself of every detail you could possibly give, only to get a phone call from an angry parent that their child didn’t pass the test you gave.

Immediately, the fault is on you. How dare you fail to educate that child well enough? You try to explain that the child should have studied, that failure is not always due to teachers, but no luck. The parent still blames the teacher. It’s plain blasphemy! But it’s all part of the job. Not getting out nearly as much as you put in. In short, teachers are the miracle workers of our generation's future. Without them, children wouldn’t know how to form sentences, to read, or receive valuable life lessons.

And though some classes seemed as though they dragged on for 2 days, our teachers really did put their heart and soul into their class, and I don’t think that deserves any complaints.