The Value of Influence

In 2nd Timothy chapter 2, the apostle Paul gives this admonition to a young man that he has taught and essentially poured his life into:
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also

A little over a month ago, I was talking about some of the most influential people in our culture.   And, I contend that while we may look to politicians and celebrities as trend-setters at large, the people with whom we interact personally have a dramatic impact on shaping our lives.   And, that, of course, includes those who labor so diligently in the classrooms across America - our teachers.

There's a new study, a huge study, that has been conducted over the past 20 years.   The New York Times reported about it.  It leads off by saying:

Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.

Now, I don't necessarily advocate tying teacher salaries to student test scores, but this does indicate to some degree that someone who is devoted to teaching well and leading well can have a definite influence on the people that he or she leads.

In fact, some financial values are placed on the impact of a good teacher.

Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000, the economists estimate. Multiply that by a career’s worth of classrooms.

“If you leave a low value-added teacher in your school for 10 years, rather than replacing him with an average teacher, you are hypothetically talking about $2.5 million in lost income,” said Professor Friedman, one of the coauthors.

And, the Bible challenges us to seek to be excellent leaders, recognizing that God will call each of us, at some point in our lives or multiple points throughout our lives to influence someone else.  Hebrews 5 says:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.