If I were growing up in a society that emphasized the quick, the easy and the simplistic, I would need a teacher who valued depth and evenhandedness.
If I were a young person in a culture that confused happiness with being entertained, then I would need a teacher who understands that happiness comes with long effort at a worthwhile project in the context of an ethical life. Such a teacher, following Aristotle's thinking about happiness, would model decency and perseverance.
If I were a student who grew up in a home where books had no meaningful place, then I would need a teacher whose life spoke of the importance of reading, not just to pass tests but for the purpose of living an informed, thoughtful life.
If the world I was growing up in were crass and cynical, then I would need teachers who could speak of beautiful and inspiring things. This teacher might say: Did you see the incredible full moon yesterday? Let me tell you about something another teacher did that's impressive. I want to share a passage from a book or song that has meant something to a lot of people.
If I were living in a world marked by ideological hatred, then I would need a teacher who could show me what it's like to have a point of view, even a strongly held one, but without losing the capacity to reason and hear and, perhaps, undergo a change of mind.
If the society I lived in were marked by sloganeering, name-calling, political censorship and self-censorship, then I would need a teacher who demonstrated grace. I really think so-and-so is mistaken, but I understand his or her motives.
If I were a young person living in a world drowning in soul-killing social media, then I would need a teacher who showed that there's a life worth having that can't be captured with a post or a click.
If, because of the environment I grew up in, I had no concept of individual thought, then I would need a teacher whose mind isn't the property of manipulators in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley. Such a teacher would ask me questions. What do I think? Why do I think it? What is my reaction to a different thought?
If I were growing up in a society that prized the quick, the short-term, the frivolous, and the degrading, then I would need a teacher whose life speaks of the purposeful and honorable.
The people who aim to be such teachers are rare, and they're often lonely. They are embattled on every side--the results of smartphone addiction, wrecked families, bureaucratic meddling, administrative careerism, and a societal lack of interest.
No one works harder than serious middle school or high school teachers, and recent reports tell us that a lot of them are heading for the exits. It's true that they get three months off in the summer and a long winter break. It's also true that, if they are diligent and serious, they work 60- to 70-hour weeks during the academic year, and the deep physical, psychological and spiritual fatigue never fully leaves them.
I grew up in a poor, violent neighborhood. At different stages, I skipped school or classes for days or weeks at a time. No one cared. I can't remember anyone ever talking to me about college. Sometimes I kept a weapon in my locker.
The teachers were overwhelmed. They couldn't compensate for the social collapse that surrounded the school.
But there were some who tried, and one was heroic. He let me into a class I had no academic business being in. I never skipped it. Somehow, I got a "C."
Looking back and seeing the challenges he faced, I don't know how he stayed with teaching as long as he did. But had he not done so, my life would have gone someplace very different. Most of all, I wouldn't have the memory of a person who stayed in the fight when almost everyone else, in one way or another, had given up.
Mr. Charles Grande of Eisenhower High School in Rialto, Calif., was the greatest man who ever lived. He was the teacher I needed.
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Preston Jones teaches at John Brown University in Siloam Springs.
Editorial on 01/21/2019