This week has been an eye opener for me. I know that our students are dealing with more than just homework and after school jobs when they leave the school yard but I guess I didn't realize how much. Being a new teacher, this is my second year, it seems that every week teaches me new things.
Here is a quick snapshot of what some of my students are dealing with. Some of it points to problems across the US today and all of it is far more difficult than any homework I give.
Healthcare - The football season is in full swing and so are injuries. One student I had last year and see in the halls often is on the football team. Since I missed the away game on Friday, I asked how it went and he replied he did not remember. He told me he got a concussion during the game and he couldn't remember a whole lot about it. I saw him Friday and asked him how he was doing and he told me "not too good." I asked why and he said that he couldn't get to the doctors so he was just dealing with the concussion on his own. He explained that his folks have health care but the co-pays are too much and they can't afford to get him in so he was just taking Tylenol and waiting for it to pass.
This is healthcare in the US. If you are living paycheck to paycheck you are damned if you have healthcare and you are damned if you don't. If you are lucky enough to have a job with healthcare you hope you have enough to pay for the co-pays or for the monthly premiums. If you don't have health care you hope you don't get sick. The debate over paying the co-pay or dealing with the health problem takes place all over the country. Why are we letting this happen here?
Violence - Another student asked to speak with me in the hall before class. She wanted to let me know why she didn't do her presentation on the day it was due and why she had not been able to turn it in yet. Her brother was shot. She had been in and out of the hospital all weekend watching him go through surgeries and barely hanging on. She told me she wouldn't be in class the next day because he had another surgery. She said she really wants to make sure she gets the work done but just could not get to it. I told her not to worry about it and that when every thing gets back to a manageable state to let me know and we could figure out something to replace that assignment.
I don't know all the circumstances surrounding the shooting nor am I really going to guess. What I do know is that violence, especially gun violence, is taking a toll on students and families in the US. I believe in the Constitution and the 1st amendment. However, I don't believe in allowing an arsenal of firearms to flow through our cities unchecked. The lack of funding hitting police departments and the failing to keep the assault weapons ban in effect are hallmarks of the current administration. At school this week we met with the gang prevention/intervention task force for our city. The two amazing women who make up the program are fighting to find funding to keep their jobs and their programs running. They are doing their best to prevent gang violence and intervene in the lives of young people caught up in gangs. The service they provide our city, meeting with families, helping kids get out of gangs, and running programs like tattoo removal for former gang members is an incredible service to our community. How is it that such a vital program combating a serious problem is going under funded? Where are our resources going? Where is the money?
Home life - A student in one of my classes was sleeping during class when I woke him up. He had missed the day before so later I asked him what was going on. He told me that his parents had kicked him out and that he had been couch hopping from one friend's house to another. He had spent the night before he missed school sleeping on a bench outside of the mall. I asked him if he had a place to stay that night because the last place he should be sleeping is outside a mall. He said that he had worked things out with his folks and that they were letting him come back home.
I don't know what he did or what happened between he and his family. What he was going through though was far more important and meant a lot more to him than my lecture on neurons or the vocabulary assignment that was due that week.
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For students, life isn't all videogames and studying, proms and school pictures, homework and part-time jobs. It seems that sometimes the world around you forces your eyes open. You may go around thinking that issues are abstract until someone puts a human face on it for you. My students continue to put human faces on issues for me everyday. They don't know how the effect me but I hope that I can be an agent of change in society for their sake and for the sake of us all.