Teachers usually aren’t as big of influences as you might think Illasheshe. While I agree that good teachers can make a big difference and should be paid well, the preponderance of children who chronically underachieve academically have other factors at play. The biggest indicator of academic success for children is an involved caregiver or parent both in the school as a volunteer, contacting/regular communication with teachers and at home encouraging homework, supervising, encouraging reading, etc. The research couldn’t be any more clear, particularly with expanding learning environments outside of the classroom setting.

When you have children who don’t have stable caregivers, a stable home, are wondering if they’ll even have food for dinner, it’s about survival. Academic learning isn’t a priority. Teachers are often able to mitigate much of this and be a stable figure which certainly helps, but education will only improve when we fix the underlying societal problem of not being at our best for kids. Teachers can only do so much.