Thanks for Making My Brain Smarter

Every morning, I wake to a dark room. I crawl out of bed and stumble bleary-eyed to the kitchen where the Herald Leader lies open and waiting. As my eyes readjust to the harsh light of the living, my vision focuses on the first clear thing I will see today. Usually, it is the front page of the Life section. After I finish reading about the newest kindergartner who started a fairy house collection at the local park, I will either graduate to the Front Page or I will downgrade to reading the comics, depending on how dead I am and how willing my mother is to relinquish her grasp on the newest conflict in Uganda. Today, she was unwilling. So I delved into the Life section's inner workings, educating myself on what sugars are healthiest and how to make the perfect cornbread muffins (It was food-themed today. Can you tell?) In the midst of a very compelling recipe on how to make "Wild Rice Stuffing," Mom interrupted. "Listen to this!" And she proceeded to read an article entitled "A day for teachers" written by one of her patrons (she's a children's librarian). Second grader Sarah Belin wrote an editorial to the Herald Leader to suggest that we have a teachers' day along with mothers' and fathers' days. Now what an idea. Her hope is that we commemorate "the people who teach you math, science, reading, art, history, and Spanish, and even [people who] teach gym" for their hardwork and for going "to work to make children's brains smarter." Knowing that there is a kid out there who actually recognizes the value of our teachers made my whole day and will probably make my whole week. What has happened to us that we can't appreciate knowledge for what it is? So much is focused on entertainment that now people discredit legitimate information just for its lack of pizzazz. Well, I'm sorry, but I can't be an advocate of dumbing down the school system. Not everything can be as entertaining as School House Rock or Bill Nye the Science Guy. If everyone followed Sarah's example and showed some appreciation for their education, my entire year would be made.