D ue to the encouragement of my Grade 7 English teacher, I became a writer and educator. Many people have similar stories about the pivotal role a teacher has played in their lives.

My daughter has recently decided to pursue a degree in education, but is becoming discouraged by the general lack of respect paid to teachers by the public at large. The low pay does not seem to be a deterrent, though it reinforces this lack of respect to some extent.

Like me, she is ignoring these voices, primarily because of her passionate sense of calling after helping kids learn as a tutor and seeing the grins and selfesteem they enjoyed after finally "getting it" and joining their classmates in sharing knowledge.

Some of them clearly needed greater one-on-one help than the classroom allowed for, but were overjoyed when their grades improved.

Yet just the other day on a radio show, I heard reiterated that old cliché, "Those who can, do; those who can't teach," and thought how demoralizing such remarks must be to young adults going into the field. Exteacher and now-comedian Gerry Dee, the star of the television series Mr. D., doesn't exactly help with his portrayal of teachers as lazy and incompetent.

At the college where I taught for 23 years, I could count one or two instructors who did the job half-heartedly. Most of my colleagues were enormously conscientious and creative people with a deep commitment to their students.

In fact, a number of us, after burning out due to 60-hour work weeks, heavy marking loads and excessive committee work, voluntarily stepped down to half-time positions so that we could do our jobs with integrity. We still put in a normal work week, but for half the pay, and now half the pension.

Higher salaries and better pensions weighed in as less important than providing a quality education to our students, as we resisted lowering the academic standards that the political and bureaucratic edicts and budget cuts necessarily entailed. We were lucky enough to be able to afford to do so, but many could not.

Despite all this, the fact that I and many other teachers would still choose teaching over any other profession, speaks to the intrinsic value of the job and its value as a public service.

Although people may feel weary hearing yet another round of familiar debate between teachers' unions, administrators and politicians during contract negotiations, please remember from time to time the paramount value of education in our society, and the highly important role of teachers in our culture.

As some First Nations leaders recently said: "It all starts with education."

Susan McCaslin is a retired college instructor.