Community Helpers: School Workers (1980)

[music] [music] [music] [music] >> Good morning, class. Good morning, sir. Will now stand for the pledge of In this school, we've changed only one thing. The ages. I pledge allegiance to the flag The older people are the students. The younger people are teachers and other school workers. Do you think this would work? Sure it would, for a while anyway. First thing this morning, we are going to review our may I's. What sort of things could children teach adults? You forgot to say may I. Well, we all forget sometimes. Let's try it again. Linda, stand up. Well, how about things that adults may have forgotten? First two steps are to get on the skateboard. Put your right foot and then your left Children could also teach adults things they've never learned. Up so the side is facing the pole. Try it. >> [laughter] >> Come on, straighten out those backs. Needs more practice. Come on. Try to keep yourself balanced. Robert, I hear you're having a problem. Come into my office and we'll discuss it. I'm sure we can work it out with the help of your children. This might be fun for a while. But that young teacher would soon be faced with a serious problem. In this classroom, he'd have to teach doctors, mechanics, store clerks, plumbers, sailors, farmers, ball players, office workers, airline pilots, maybe even a United States Senator. I can't teach all these people. I haven't been through high school yet. Well, you don't have to. This is just pretend. In fact, we'd better let these adults go now. The truth is they have jobs and other duties they must do. In the community, these grown-ups must print the newspapers, take care of the sick, build places to live, and keep the community supplied with services, food, and clothing. Do you think they had to go to school to learn to do these things? Well, they certainly had to learn to read, and to write, and to do mathematics. Studying science helped them learn to help others. The study of history and literature helped them to understand the world and be better citizens. My name is Charles Laser. I live on Oxford Road. Learning about art and music helps them to express themselves and to enjoy the [music] works of others. Someday their children will grow up and want to do these things, too. The parents know before that can happen, the children will have to study and learn. Who is going to teach them? I would like to teach the children, but I'm busy all day carrying the mail. I'd like to, but if I don't stay here and work on these vehicles, they'll never get done. And people have to work in the restaurants, or we won't be able to eat out. What a busy community needs are people who will devote their whole day just to the children. So, some people decided to become teachers and school workers. Their job in the community would be helping the children learn. Here's how it works. Hi. School workers pay other people in the community for food, clothing, gasoline, car repair, and whatever else they need. And the other community workers pay the school workers for teaching the children and taking care of the school. Let's go back a moment. Remember our classroom full of doctors, office workers, sailors, clerks, and pilots? Can you tell which is which? No. Nobody can tell just by looking at them in a classroom. And just imagine if this were a real classroom. Now it's even harder to tell which one will grow up to be a doctor, which a business person, and so forth. What does the teacher think about that? I look at the children, and what I see are all kinds of wonderful hopes for the future. I don't know what they'll be when they grow up. That's up to each one of them. My job is to help them learn, so they can become whatever they want to be. To do that the teacher first had to go through all levels of school. Elementary school, junior high, high school, and college. In college this person and a friend decided to make teaching their career. They and other college students were studying subjects that most children wouldn't understand. Then they realized something important. The only reason they could learn grown-up things was because as children they had learned to think and study in their early years of school. So they decided it was important to teach children and that was what they would do. After years of study, he got a job teaching children in another city. She applied to the school board in this community and was hired to teach this class. Yes, please run, please your number. Right. Uh can anybody tell me where there are refugees right now? A lot of them. In Thailand. Uh kind of, close to there. Of course, not all people who work at a school are teachers. Before we go in and look, can you name some of the other jobs people have at your school? There is the teacher in charge of the whole school. The principal. When a classroom teacher gets sick, the principal has to find a substitute. There are books to order, records to keep, and special school events to plan. The principal has to keep track of everything that's going on in the school. >> Mr. Harris? And this is Tom Jerome at Nottingham. Could you come in this afternoon and help us out in the second grade? Good. We'll see you about 12:00 then. Oh, Megan, does it hurt badly? Okay, I'll call your mom. What's your number? 542 31 The school secretary types newsletters, reports, programs, talks to parents, and helps teachers and students in many ways. If a child gets hurt on the playground or has a temperature, the school nurse is trained to know just what to do. Often it's the nurse who discovers when a child needs glasses or has other problems. And there are the school custodians. Without them, the building would soon be a mess. School bus drivers are certainly important to children who live far from from school. On cold winter mornings, it's sure nice that they always remember to come by. And many schools have cafeteria workers. It's not the same as preparing meals for one small family. They have to prepare enough to serve hundreds. And to know what foods keep children healthy. All of these people are devoting their lives to helping children learn. Do you think children understand that? Denise, what do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an explorer. Do you think explorers have to know how to read and do mathematics? Yes. Sure. How else are they going to be able to read maps and directions? Or figure out how much to pay for travel tickets and meals and places to sleep. Dave, what do you want to be? >> [snorts] >> Either a television newsman or draw cartoons. Does a television newsman have to be good at reading? Sure, he has to read the news. A cartoonist must have to read a great deal to know what to make cartoons about. And if he couldn't write, he couldn't tell us what the cartoon characters are saying. Darryl, Yes. What do you want to do when you grow up? I want to take care of all kinds of animals and be a veterinarian. What do you hope to be, Kevin? I want to be a teacher. Well, maybe someday you will be a teacher. Or explorer, >> [music] >> or nurse, or mechanic, or doctor, or artist. The fact is with the help of your school workers [music] you can be anything you learn to be. >> [music]