Expectations

It's funny now that I think back on a couple months ago, how much hope I had for my tutoring position. Ten weeks have flown by and it's easy for me to understand how teachers can get burnt out. I didn't even teach a full class for an entire day. I simply had the task of taking on a small group of kids for a couple hours.

I've learned that hope is not enough. Teachers can do all that's expected of them, put in all their time and energy. It's the student that needs to want to learn. Kids learn that type of motivation and drive not from their teachers, but from their parents. That then turns to a whole other set of problems.

Parents of low-income children have their share of burdens, more than the average parent. All of the parents of my students couldn't speak English. They only spoke Spanish. Their fathers worked 2-3 jobs, were gone from morning til late night. They had lots of siblings, lived in apartments, shared everything.

Yes, the odds are against them, but still I blame the parents for their lack of motivation and inspiration. I told them their one job in life for now is to go to college. It didn't matter what college. A few of the kids told me their parents said they didn't need to go to college...they just needed to work. I wanted to scream.

In the end, we can blame no one but ourselves. The government may be flawed, the system may be biased, the whole world is full of prejudice, racism, bigotry. Still, I believe that each person has to fight the fight. Obviously, the lucky ones won't have a fight. Wouldn't the fight be worth it when your children can learn and become someone stronger, someone smarter, someone better than you were?

In the land of immigrants, it's true that some people are privileged and others aren't even given a taste of it. It's the most frustrating thing to me when kids who aren't even 10 years old give up.

I've always respected teachers. Now, after living it for such a short time, my respect has grown immensely.