The "#1 When It Matters" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the lead headline in the morning LNP Always Lancaster newspaper and feeling pretty proud for you see the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was rated the "Best City For Teachers" in the United States.  As many of you may know after reading this blog for over six years now, I taught high school for 33 years in the late 1960s to the late 1990s.  There were turbulent times, scary times, but mostly very satisfying times.  I now hear quite frequently the comment, "You were the reason I chose to do what I did."  Makes you feel pretty neat that someone chose what they did for a profession because of what you taught them in high school.  Even had a student who I coached on the high school rifle team tell me that the discipline and concentration that I taught them as a team member led them to chose the occupation that they did.  

How many occupations can you think of where you can influence, either positively or negatively, the outcome of someone's life's choices?  Well, the story told that Lancaster is the best city in the country to be a teacher according to GoodCall, a South Carolina-based data analysis and scholarship company.  The company based their list of top 10 cities to be a teacher based on average annual salary, available teaching jobs per capita, high school graduation rates, cost of living and amenities.  

Teachers in the county weren't the highest paid with an average salary of slightly over $60,000, but the county has a lot to offer in terms of quality of living.  The arts, music scene and great food make the area close to the top in amenities.  Mall and boutique shopping, strolls through museums and art galleries and exploring historical landmarks makes this area special.  Also, housing prices in the area are lower than in many areas with the same benefits and the proximity to large cities such as Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore and even New York factored into the final results.  Lancaster's city school district is economically disadvantaged as well as having almost 900 homeless students, yet the county high school graduation rate is 86%.  Other cities that are in the top 5 are Syracuse, Ithaca and Rochester, NY and Charlottesville, VA.  So you see, even though Lancaster County, PA may be in the top 10 in other categories, it ranks #1 where it matters the most.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.