As usual, Will gives food for thought. I’ll let his words speak for themselves:

But here’s the quote of the day, overheard in a restaurant: "You know, if you’re lucky, you’ll get one good teacher in your life." And there were general assents at the table where the comment was made. And it started me thinking about my own teachers, and how many of them I really remember as having an impact on my desire to learn. There were three, at least in my traditional schooling. I guess I’m lucky. But it also got me thinking about my own teaching, and the thousands of kids I had in my classrooms, and how many of them I left an impact on, not in terms of journalism or media or literature but in terms of loving learning. I wonder…

And it also got me thinking about how many teachers I have now who constantly help me learn. Many more today than in all of my past.

I cannot imagine having only one good teacher, and I think a lot a lot depends on how much you open yourself up to be taught. I had several very good teachers at every level. I think about the high school teachers who made a huge difference. In college, there were the professors who changed the way I looked at literature and philosophy. In graduate school, I was lucky enough to study with Tom Sobol, and he is both life-changing and life-affirming in his teaching.

And those are just the traditional teachers… being at Beacon, I had administrators and colleagues who were the most amazing teachers I could have asked for. I learned from them every day.

And then there are all the students I’ve learned from… and the friends who have been mentors… and my parents… and the writers, both on-line and off, the list goes on and on.

One good teacher? No way. I have had more than I can count, and I think I’ve even remembered to thank some of them along the way.

But back to Will’s entry…

How could anyone claim that they had only one good teacher? Is that limiting the word "teacher" far too much? What is it that those people at the table Will overheard were looking for that they didn’t find? What were they expecting? And what did they miss from all of the potential teachers that they don’t seem to think they learned from?

And if this is something that could be considered representative of how many folks think about our profession, what does that mean about what we do… about how we are seen… and about how we go forward if we really do want to affect change?