Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Teacher in Space

Finally…A teacher up high!

It is about time that we held teachers as the cream of the crop and carried them over our heads…even if as a first step, we send them over the atmosphere on a risky mission.

This Endeavor is quite late in coming, but it is here and hats off to NASA for sending Barbara Morgan to carry the idea of education high above the ground after her late forerunner McAuliffe.

Morgan said in an interview released by NASA, "Christa was, is, and always will be our 'Teacher in Space,' our first teacher to fly" in a shuttle. She truly knew what this was all about -- not just bringing the world to her classroom, but also helping ... to show the world what teachers do."

According to AP News, “Morgan will speak with students in Idaho, where she taught elementary classes before moving to Houston in 1998 to become the first teacher to train as a full-fledged astronaut. If the mission is extended from 11 days to 14 days as planned, thanks to a new station-to-shuttle power converter, she'll also have a chance to answer questions from students in Virginia and Massachusetts.”

What Morgan will do up there in no man’s land is attention getting, true; however, the message she is carrying for the youth of this planet is even more significant than what will happen to a teacher in space. Because she is an educator, she may be able to get the attention of students, parents, and legislators to the importance of education in our lives. She may be able to coerce them toward the attainment of knowledge, not by pouring money into dead-end projects, but by truly giving the importance to solid education that our youth so desperately needs.

NASA scored with this Endeavor, maybe to boost its own image, but still NASA scored.

I wish, in future, NASA will continue supporting and encouraging teachers and education, without the fanfare of sending them to space or on dangerous missions, but maybe employing them in some teaching capacity to encourage learning on the planet earth.

Teachers ARE important.