Compassion

I  think it's important for a teacher to be compassionate. I'm not saying that the teachers need to be the school councler, but sometimes the teachers is the only adult that will listen to a childs problem/or what they have to say. I want to share a story, that is a pretty extreme case of compassion in a teacher, but it probably saved a students life. My 12th grade government teacher was one of my favorite teachers ever! She had this way of connecting with students, so that we still had full respect for her, but she could joke around with us. But one year, i think 5 or so years ago, there was a student in her class that was struggling immensly. He was VERY smart, but his home life was horrible. He had to work 2 jobs to suppost his family because his parents were alcholics and drug abusers. He was at a lost of what to do, because he wasnt getting the grades to go to a good college, but he had to work in order to have a house to live in and food to eat. So my teacher heard this story, and decided to help him. She had so much compassion for him that she decided to adopt him. By doing this, he was able to quit his jobs and focus soley on school. She then put him through college, and he is now very successful.
Now im not saying that teachers should go to these lenghts to help their students, but teachers are a huge part of a students life, and i think that as teachers, we need to show that we care about our students.