Schools are considered as the second home of the children. They spend so much time learning and interacting with their friends and teachers. But this “second home” has much more responsibility than making children academically strong.

Why are academics considered as the basis of everything? Why is there no focus on a child’s personal growth and the kind of person he/she is becoming? These questions are definitely asked but still remain unanswered.

Katie Pearson, a first-grade teacher at Blue Haze Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas realized the importance of these questions when she experienced a tough situation at school. She expressed that she was having a really bad day at school because of all the pressure that teachers face regarding the performances of her students in tests.

She wrote, “You feel like a failure because you didn’t read every day with every student (which is impossible). You feel like a failure because not every student showed a huge academic gain. You feel like you shouldn’t be a teacher because your classrooms academic data doesn’t look like the classroom across the hall.” She even said that how teachers feel responsible for the future of the students all depending on the grades they receive.

We all have seen how teachers go above and beyond for their students so that they can achieve good grades. But Katie was feeling down despite working really hard towards building her students’ future. Little did she knew, her teachings had been successful in raising them to be compassionate.

She realized this when one of her students gave her a very sweet and thoughtful gift. He presented her with a box of ziplocs and when asked about the thought behind those, he told her, “Miss Pearson before Christmas you said you were out of ziploc bags at home. I saw your sandwich and chips in the same bag. Nobody needs that. That’s gross. Plus, when we need something, you get it. When we lose our glue, you may not be happy but you get us another one. You told us that if we love people, we show them. You said real leaders show people. I just want to show you.”

Katie cried after hearing this from that little kid. We won’t lie, this made us sob too.
You know what matters? This, your humble nature and a soft heart that wishes well of everyone. Katie has done a great job by teaching them to nicer and better first as this world needs kinder hearts more than it needs good readers.

The post This Teacher Explains Why Raising Kids To Be Kind Is Important Than Their Academic Grades appeared first on Up Limits.