FORTY-TWO KIDS
 
Now, some people say a teacher's made out of steel,
But a teacher's made of stuff that can think and feel.
A mind and a body and a tortured soul,
The ability to teach the shy and the bold.
 
I teach 42 kids and what do I get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don't you call me to that Heavenly Gate,
I owe my soul to the youth of this state.
 
I was born one morning it was cloudy and cool,
I picked up my register and walked to the school.
I wrote 42 names on my class roll,
My superintendent said, "Well, bless my soul!"
 
I teach 42 kids and what do I get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don't you call me to that Celestial Shore,
I have 42 students and they're sending me more.
 
There's a child in every seat from wall to wall,
Any more who come will have to stand in the hall.
They're breathing down my neck, they're walking on my toes,
They're telling me their joys and I'm sharing all their woes.
 
I teach 42 kids and what do I get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don't you call me to that Celestial Shore,
I have 42 students and they're sending me more.
 
The bell rings at four but my bed's not made,
I still have all those papers to grade,
The faculty meets at seven they say,
And tomorrow is a meeting of the PTA.
 
I teach 42 kids and what do I get?
Younger in heart, nothing to regret.
St. Peter don't you call me, I can't leave here,
I'll have 42 students again next year.
 
Pete Seeger gives the source as an "unnamed Arkansas school-teacher," and says that it was reprinted by the New York Teacher News, newspaper of the Teachers' Union.