For some students, school is the only place where they get a hot meal and a warm hug. Teachers are sometimes the only ones who tell our children they can go from an Indian reservation to the Ivy League, from the home of a struggling single mom to the White House.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the vital role that schools and teachers play in providing not just education, but essential support and encouragement to students from challenging backgrounds.
Denise Juneau's quote emphasizes the significant impact that schools and teachers can have on students, especially those who face socio-economic hardships. It acknowledges that for some students, school may be a sanctuary that provides physical nourishment and emotional support, and it celebrates the transformative power of teachers who inspire their students to aspire to greater opportunities, regardless of their circumstances.
In practice
During a school board meeting, this quote can be used to advocate for more resources for teachers.
Children are coming to school with trauma, everyday trauma, that they live under: violence in the homes, alcoholism in the community, unemployment thats 80 percent, not just during the recession. We need to help treat that before they can even go sit in a class and learn about math.
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
If you are in a country that is progressive, the woman is progressive. If you're in a country that reflects the consciousness toward the importance of education, it's because the woman is aware of the importance of education. But in every backward country you'll find the women are backward, and in every country where education is not stressed its because the women don't have education.
We have a complex system of government. You have to teach it to every generation.
If the library in the morning suggests an echo of the severe and reasonable wishful order of the world, the library at night seems to rejoice in the world's essential, joyful muddle.
When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.
I've seen schools in Detroit where the windows are broken, where there's no heat, and children are sitting with their coats on in class in the middle of a snowstorm. I've also seen schools in California with Olympic-sized swimming pools and cafeterias like five-star restaurants.
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