ABSTRACT
THE KEY ROLE OF TEACHERS If you were asked “What is the most important resource of a country?” what would you answer? It’s not uranium or oil. It’s not water or timber. It’s not diamonds, or coal, or natural gas. The most critical resource of a country is its people, particularly its youth. How the next generation behaves will determine a country’s future as surely as any other resource within its borders. In the United States, the responsibility for producing the academic and social skills of the next generation of workers and leaders rests on the
educational system. Even at a local level, it is an awesome responsibility. Teachers can rescue a child from a life of misery, help students learn to handle conflict, and inspire them to accomplish things they never dreamed possible. On the other hand, a careless action by a teacher can make a student hate a subject or education in general. Whatever teachers do affects student lives, often in significant ways.
