Priorities impact life and education greatly. My changing priorities, a few years ago, sent me back to school to become a teacher.
But what about when your main priority is having enough food to eat? Here in America, there is extreme poverty. Here in Cincinnati, there is extreme poverty. Granted, in the 'burbs, we don't usually see it. My practicum site this semester is more inner-city, and I've been made aware of some very, very serious poverty and its impact on education.
One of the students at my school was refusing to do any homework, whatsoever. So a couple of the teachers planned a home visit to try to impress upon the student and parents just how important it was to complete assignments. What they inadvertently discovered, however, was that the child's home had no electric, no running water, no food in the now dead 'frig.
How do you explain the importance of education to people who are as near to homeless as it gets? Yet, isn't poverty perpetual to some degree? If they fail to educate themselves, won't this teen end up similarly as an adult?
This really impacted me this week, and I wanted to get my fellow students' perspective on it.
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2 comments:
Greg,
Your words are sad, heart breaking and true. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing. I think it is important for all teachers to try to "understand" and make sense of what their students' lives are really like. Kudos to you for recognizing the situation and appreciating it for what it is, serious and real.
Meredith
That blog made me depressed to think about how much we complain and we have it good compared to many others. People who can overcome that are amazing, but most people don't. Our job is crucial in helping these students who easily fall through the cracks.
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