A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
All this week, teachers have been getting treats, trinkets and a 25% discount on Crocs for Teacher Appreciation Week.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson thanked his own teacher as he signed the law dedicating federal funds to elementary and secondary education for the first time. This law later morphed into the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LYNDON B JOHNSON: In this one-room schoolhouse, Miss Katie (ph) Deadrich taught eight grades at one and the same time. Come over here, Miss Katie, and sit by me, will you?
(APPLAUSE)
MARTÍNEZ: Johnson was the son of a tenant farmer in Texas, and he credited his public education with getting him out of poverty.
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JOHNSON: From our very beginnings as a nation, we have felt a very fierce commitment to the ideal of education for everyone.
FADEL: Johnson himself worked as a high school teacher before getting into politics. He signed the bill with Ms. Deadrich beside him. She became Johnson's teacher starting when he was just 4 years old in the schoolhouse near his hometown of Stonewall, Texas.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Leila, I didn't end up becoming president just yet, but I do owe a lot to one teacher, and that's Sister Catherine (ph). Last semester my senior year, despite going to after-school tutoring, I was failing math class. And the day before she had to turn in my grade, Sister Catherine sat me down and swore me to secrecy - I'm not kidding - swore me to secrecy about what she was about to do. She said she had never seen anyone try so hard but fail so badly, so she was going to pass me so I could walk with the rest of the seniors at graduation. There were only 100 seniors, so it would have been noticed and humiliating if I wasn't at graduation. So thanks, Sister Catherine.
FADEL: Wow. Wow. Thank God we don't need math in this job, A. For me, I think it's Michael Dodd (ph), Mr. Dodd. He taught me music from elementary to middle school. He taught me how to love music. And so I was, like, 8, 9 years old singing Bob Dylan, The Beatles, John Denver. That's the music that he taught us to love. So thank you, Mr. Dodd. And also my mom and my sister are both teachers, so thank you to all the teachers, including them.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And I got family that are teachers, too. So to all the teachers out there everywhere, thanks for everything that you do.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.