For quite a long time, each time I drove by an inner city Middle/High School, I'd thought about the kids there and wondered about volunteering in some capacity. When I got back from Haiti, I talked to a friend in the public school system to see how I should proceed with volunteering there. Long story short, it took me about 5 months to actually hang out with a student. Thanks, red tape and poor communication.
There's an after school program where kids can come and do their homework, get tutored, and have a safe environment to hang out for a few hours after school. The times I've hung out with students have been really good, especially when I get to help with homework, especially math. I love math. But, it's hard hearing about these kids' lives -- hearing the reality of what they face. We grew up in the same school district, just down the road from me, and yet had totally different perspectives. I wasn't scared of violence in my neighborhood, wasn't two grades behind in most subjects, or wasn't afraid to get married because that's when I heard you start getting abused, etc.
The past two times I've gone, there hasn't been anything for me to do. Teachers have left and haven't been replaced. Teachers aren't assigning homework because of the testing going on. Apparently, they go through four rounds of standardized testing -- more than most because the school is behind. I know some testing is necessary; I know I don't have all the answers.
The system frustrates me and I know I can't fix it; I keep thinking about the documentary I watched a while back. It makes me sad to see some of these things first hand. I'm not sure if this post has a point, but I am sure it's hard to realize life isn't fair to everyone...
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