As parents, we often stress over having to buy so many school supplies ever year. It hits especially hard at the beginning of the school year, as we find ourselves at the store picking up everything from construction paper to pencils.
That is the problem that a maths teacher recently encountered. As he was visiting the local Wal-Mart, he was approached by a parent who was complaining about everything they needed to buy. What they neglected to notice was the large basket of school supplies that the teacher was pushing through the store.
He decided to take his vent to facebook, and it is inspirational:
Michael posted the story of his encounter, along with a picture of school supplies. As he said, he felt “jaded” while shopping when 2 sets of parents stopped to complain to him in the school supplies isle.
“This is just ridiculous, I don’t know how these teachers think we are supposed to get all this stuff,” the parents said.
“As they complained, they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that my cart was filled with a class set of all the supplies they were buying … which should have been a pretty clear indication that I was one of those greedy teachers they were complaining about,” Michael wrote in the post.
Later, while he was checking out, a dad gave him a gift card for $25. It took him by surprise.
“You are a teacher right?” the dad asked. “I just want to thank you for everything you do. I see your cart is full with supplies, and I just wanted to help out as much as I can.”
Michael was understandably touched by the encounter and by the contrast with what he heard earlier. He wrote about those messages and what it may have been saying to the children:
“The kids who heard their parents complaining heard this message: ‘School is not important enough to spend money on it, teachers are not to be trusted and have bad judgement, and learning does not require investment.’
The kid who’s dad handed me the gift card heard, ‘School is important enough that we should give more than required to make sure it is successful, teachers should be respected and valued, and learning requires us giving it everything we have.’”
Michael said he understands that money is really tight for some families, who have to struggle to buy kids school supplies.
“However, as a parent, do your best to send the right message to your child,” he added. “The man [who] gave me the gift card not only made my day, but I know that his daughter will enter the classroom this year with a very different perspective about her teacher and her education, and that is extremely powerful!”
His post has gone viral and has been shared some 70,000 times.
Via: Huffington Post
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