( CNN ) -- Each day more than 55 million students attend the country 's 130,000 schools . Each day , parents and guardians entrust some 7 million teachers with the education of our children . And on a normal day , that is all we expect teachers to do -- teach . But on those not-so normal days we are reminded that for six hours a day and more , five days a week , teaching is not the only thing teachers are charged with doing . On those not-so-normal days , we are reminded that teachers are also asked to be surrogate parents , protectors , heroes . Monday was one of those not-so-normal days . The nation watched in horror as a 2-mile-wide tornado with winds up to 200 mph tore through Moore , Oklahoma . As sirens blared and the ground shook , the full force of the twister hit Plaza Towers Elementary School around 3 p.m . It was full of students , young scared children who had nowhere to hide as the tornado ripped off the roof , sending debris everywhere . Heroes or just doing their jobs ? Teacher save lives during tornado . `` We had to pull a car out of the front hall off a teacher and I do n't know what her name is , but she had three little kids underneath her , '' a rescuer said . `` Good job teach . '' And that teacher was not the only one whose body shielded children from harm . A couple of years ago , as state and local officials were looking for ways to cut spending , a study from the American Enterprise Institute emerged in 2011 , asking a provocative question : Are teachers overpaid ? Using abbreviated metrics -- such as comparing private sector employees ' SAT and GRE scores with those of teachers -- the study 's co-author Jason Richwine said the findings suggested that `` years of education could be an overestimate of cognitive skills . '' A counterintuitive and insulting proposition . But in retrospect that should n't be too surprising considering Richwine 's doctoral dissertation advocated keeping out immigrants with low IQs , which he maintained are lower than those of the `` native white population . '' He also co-authored an attack on immigration reform for the Heritage Foundation . And he resigned as the group 's senior policy analyst shortly afterward . Nevertheless , as educators in Chicago voted to strike and benefits such as tenure came under scrutiny , the question that study proposed sparked a national conversation and helped turn 2012 into a year in which teacher-bashing became a popular past time . But when I think of the importance of teaching in this country , when I think about the heroism demonstrated in Oklahoma , I find it impossible to overpay teachers . We can certainly talk about the realities of the economy , debate the best method to evaluate effectiveness and discuss the drawbacks of unions . But anyone who characterizes teachers as overpaid is forgetting what we entrust them with each and every day . Our children . Inside a tornado-ravaged school . On a normal day , you do n't think about that too much . But on a not-so-normal day , that is all you can think about . Anne Marie Murphy , a mother of four , died trying to protect 6-year-old Dylan Hockley as Adam Lanza terrorized the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary School in December . When police found the two victims , Murphy was still holding Hockley in her arms . And five other educators did not run away from the threat but gave their lives trying to protect students , trying to protect children . How do you overpay for that ? Obviously no parent or guardian drops their children off at school thinking tragedy is going to happen . But perhaps we should be grateful that if something terrible does happen , that there are these angels in the building who will do right by our kids . Who will give anything -- sometimes even their lives -- to protect them in our absence . One of the Plaza Towers teachers reportedly was lying on top of six students in a school bathroom to shelter them from the horrific storm . I 'm sure that is not in the job description . So yes , it is fiscally responsible for a community to talk about loss of tax revenue and budget deficits . But we ought to be careful not to vilify this profession while doing so . Teachers are not glorified babysitters with summers off . Their profession fuels all others , and on a normal day that is amazing enough in and of itself . But on a day that 's not so normal , we hope and pray that they are willing to do much more . And time and time again , in the face of terrible tragedies , we have learned that many of them do . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson .
LZ : : Oklahoma tornado another incident where teachers tried to shield kids from harm . LZ : A report says teachers are overpaid , union problems led to a lot of teacher bashing . LZ : How could you overpay a teacher who risks or loses her life to shield kids ? We should not vilify teachers , he says . Even on a normal day , what they do is amazing enough .