2 in 3 Michigan Teachers Experience This During Summer Break

Growing up in beautiful, picturesque Brooklyn, Michigan, I had a unique perspective on the world of education. You see I was lucky enough to have a high school and an elementary school teacher for parents. My dad was the shop, drafting, and technology class instructor. My mom's passion had always been music, so in years when the millage would pass, she was the district's music teacher. In other years she taught every grade between kindergarten and 6th.

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Even though I sat at that dinner table every night for 18-plus years, it wasn't until I had some distance I realized just how much time they put into their jobs, even in the summer! Granted, we lived less than a mile from the high school and my dad would often run to his shop to work on projects he wanted to show students the next year. My mom worked on bulletin boards and lesson plans. Both of them took great pride in their jobs and the education they provided.

There are bad teachers, no doubt. There are bad servers, bad nurses, bad septic repair people (stay away from them)...there are people who have no business doing what they are doing in every profession. The problem with this is that the good ones never get their moment in the spotlight.

I asked my parents about that once when I was in my 20s. I remember it very clearly, we were sitting in a tiny dinner having breakfast just outside of Banff, Canada. That's a long way from Brooklyn, Michigan. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was a higher power, but as that question came out of my mouth a family of 4 walked into the mountain breakfast spot and instantly came over to our table. This family included 2 kids, now adults, who had both of my parents as teachers, and without hesitation, they said 'Thank you'.

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They never answered my question, they didn't need to. Our table for 3 became a table of 7 and the conversation revolved around musicals my mom had played the piano for and the tables, ladders, and bread boxes they had made in my father's shop. When Dad died his impact was felt. I wish he could have seen that.

That's a long build-up to a very simple statistic that came to light in a survey commissioned by Office Depot, conducted by OnePoll, and analyzed by Talker.News I had zero doubt in the results:

2 out of 3 K-12 teachers miss their classroom during the summer

Here's a deeper look at Office Depot's 3rd Annual Back to School Survey:

By the way, if you read this article thank a teacher. They'll appreciate it. Also, if there are any spelling or grammar errors, blame Mrs. Wilcox.