Drugs, Sex, & Violence

Often times on the news, or in popular media, you hear about the "inner-city." The place where shootings happen, sex is exploited, and drugs run rampant. Then you get here, and for the first few weeks, at least for me, you think, "This isn't so bad. Maybe there's an 'urban legend' about what living in poverty really looks like."

But very quickly, the bird of optimism gets shot down by the rifle of reality.

In just this past week I have had:

-1 student suspended for coming to school high

-1 student seek me out for guidance in dealing with childhood sexual abuse

-1 student miss our morning appointment because "something came up on the streets and he had to help,"

WHAT?!

14-16 year olds, having to live in conditions that I can neither understand nor relate to, asking questions that I've only ever heard in a theoretical sense.

Suddenly, the urgency of what it is that we are doing here, all came flooding back to me. The education that we are providing is these kid's "golden ticket" out of here.

Willie Wonka took a full movie to get 1 kid successfully through his Chocolate Factory, we are taking four years to get approximately 280 through ours. The process is too slow. Shouldn't we be focusing on making the inner city the "chocolate factory" instead of trying to find one to ship our youth to?

Subsequently, I'm beginning to ask, is MATCH (and other charter schools like it) really doing anything to address the systemic problem of urban environments? My students now have better MCAS scores, but they still take dangerous routes home. We protect them for 8, 10, even 12 hours a day, but the reality is that we can't protect them from all of it. With a goal of college success and beyond, we focus on the future of where the kid is going, rather than the future of where the kid is now. My school recruits students from all over Boston, people who literally travel 1-2 hours each way to get here. It is nearly impossible to build a sense of community outside of the students--to involve parents and organizations, because the logistics in getting here are SO ridiculous. That's one of the downfalls of the charter school model, anyone can apply, anyone can get accepted, and suddenly the demographic of students that the school supports spreads an entire metropolis.

These three instances of drugs, sex, and violence have re-invigorated and re-affirmed my mission toward public schools. We neither have the time, energy, nor resources to make a bunch of chocolate factories. We have got to "start where we are, use what we've got, and do what we can." We have to invest in the public institutions that already exist. There's no sense in re-inventing the wheel, we just need to patch the holes and get a pump.

If He Can Come, Shouldn't I?

Today one of my favorite students asked,

"So we meeting at four again tomorrow?"

Unfortunately, he was not talking about after school. Instead he was talking about 4A.M. a time of day I knew existed only by others mention of it.

Thankfully he had his times mixed up and what he really meant to say was, "Should I get up tomorrow @ 4 so I can meet you here at school at 6?"

While 6 is definitely CLOSER to a time I regularly experience, I haven't been a morning person since my last years in high school. And here I was, being asked whether for the fourth day in a row, I was going to meet my struggling student (who also came in for 5 hours of help on Sunday).

I don't think it's possible to say no in a situation like this. To hear a high school sophomore volunteer to get up at four in the morning, knowing that he's not going to get home until eight at night? To hear him so concerned with his academic progress to recognize how much additional support he needs? To hear him willing to come listen to my beautiful voice, 2.5 hours more than he actually has to?

Is there a point where I can honestly look him in the eyes and say, "No, sorry I can't be there?" The fact is that he doesn't have a home environment conducive to learning, he needs one-on-one support to work through the material, and he can't work in the school without a tutor.

So what questions does this situation lend itself to:

1) Should a line be drawn which I will not cross in terms of time I sacrifice for students? Especially willing ones?

2) By not having him find other strategies and places to be productive am I holding his hand too tightly in order to prepare him for success in "college and beyond?"

3) Is it narcissistic for me to like the fact that I work four hours a day, and to not try to find other strategies that would allow me to devote time elsewhere?

For now it's easy. I do have the manpower, time, strength, and energy to keep having these 6AM mornings. But what happens when I'm a teacher. What happens when my case load goes from 12 students to 120. What then? Am I preparing myself to think that I can save the world "one child at a time" when in actuality there will be so many more balls to juggle next year? That there won't be enough hours in the day to save "one child at a time."

For now, all I know is this. When I have a student passionate enough to get up at 4AM to come to school I have to support that. I have to be there, with a smile beaming brightly to let him know how proud he should be of himself. Perhaps it's not sustainable, perhaps it's a bit unorthodox, but isn't love usually that way?

Welcome Back, Mitch!

Wowzers! It sure has been awhile, sorry for all of you avid readers who thought I was eaten by a dog, chewed up by a student, or defenestrated by an angry administrator. Rest assured that none of those are the case, I am alive and well!

Rather than attempt to update you on the craziness that has been my life these past two months, I've decided to simply over blurbs/ideas/comments on random education/life related subjects, and hope that between them you'll be able to put together the pieces of what I am doing and how that's effecting how I am.

So get excited! I promise to never leave you for this long again.