A Message from Dennis Silas, MPE President
Ms. Linda Anglin is honored in this issue of the MPE Journal for her many years of commitment to the education of the children of Mississippi through her long time service in MPE. I have known Ms. Anglin for several years and I have witnessed her caring spirit firsthand. The smile on her face and the twinkle in her eyes when she talks about making a difference for children is like a window to her heart. Ms. Anglin would be a great role model for our children. Our children, however, are influenced much more by members of the sports and entertainment community. This is sad!
Many well known sports and entertainment personalities that our children look up to have fallen from grace. There have been allegations of illegal drug use, dog fighting, guns, physical abuse, and cheating. One fallen angel even had to return her Olympic medals for cheating. I am not the world’s greatest fan, but I was distraught and disappointed that people who represent themselves as role models were making so many mistakes and not realizing the grave consequences of their actions on their own lives and the lives of our children. It was even more upsetting when I heard one athlete, who has taken millions of dollars by marketing himself as a sports hero, say that he is not a role model. Unfortunately, many of our children see him as such and try to live their lives as he has lived his.
In these tumultuous times, many of our children are faced with stresses and challenges in their lives that my generation would have never imagined possible for children. With the increasing number of dysfunctional families and the unwillingness of many in the sports and entertainment arena to except the responsibility of being a role model, many of our children are getting lost. This is where the school has to step in. For many of our children the school is the only safe and caring place they have. The No Child Left Behind Act sets high standards and accountability for the learning of all children and mandates that 100% of all children meet the standards. As we embrace this philosophy of academic excellence, we must also realize our children must have hopes, dreams, and a belief that attaining their vision is possible. This is what role models provide to children. In the absence of traditional role models, educators must pick up this banner and add it to the many other banners that they carry. This act of humanity will ensure that all children not only meet our rigorous standards, but have dreams, and a belief that will allow them to make good use of the high quality education provided in our Mississippi classrooms.
If we as educators get it right, there will be more Donald Drivers in the future. Donald Driver is a professional football player who played his college ball at Alcorn State University. He is one athlete who has accepted that he is a role model. He has established the Donald Driver Foundation with the goal of “changing homeless families’ issues each day with STRONG HANDS that build and strengthen instead of destroy and weaken, with STRONG MINDS that invent new ideas to achieve these goals, and with LOVING HEARTS that overflow with love and compassion.” Donald Driver is a symbol of hope for our children, but he couldn’t have gotten where he is today without the encouragement, compassion, and dreams that teachers provide to students each and everyday.
The task of delivering the plethora of services that students need to be successful can be daunting. Educators like Ms. Anglin are proof that teachers can meet any challenge without burning out or becoming discouraged if the focus and purpose is doing what’s best for children. This is what MPE is all about. This is what it means to be a professional educator. Ms. Anglin, thank you for helping make MPE the professional association that it is today. You are a genuine role model for us all.
Dennis Silas
President, MS Professional Educators |
