“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”-Author unknown.
When I was a sophomore at IOWA, I took a class entitled “Human Relations for the Classroom Teacher.” The objective of this class was to talk about how race, gender, and socio-economic status impacts education and schools. The class was eye opening and forced us to discuss difficult ideas and topics. The book we read that struck a chord was entitled “Savage Inequalities,” by Jonathan Kozol. The author discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. During this time I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Until this point, however, I didn’t know what that meant for me, or how my role as an educator would define me.
While reading and discussing this book with my classmates and professor, I began to grow increasingly more distraught. I would go home and have nightmares about the children in these poverty-stricken schools. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of accounts of school bathrooms filled with sewage due to broken pipes. These innocent children were born into this environment without consent and had to go to a school with cracked ceilings, contaminated water, torn up books, and no true chance at learning. I would toss and turn at night and re-read articles and chapters from Kozol’s alarming reality of some of the public schools in the United States.
One morning during class, we were talking about how children raised in poverty aren’t afforded the same educational opportunities as a middle class child in the suburbs. I was beginning to think that the whole educational system was hopeless. I wondered if maybe I was pursuing a career that cannot be changed for the good. My professor picked up on my feelings of hopelessness. He called me into his office. He came from a challenging upbringing and had been able to rise above the obstacles. Professor Nicholas was well known for his research and teachings in education. I sat down in his office and he looked at me with twinkling eyes and said, “Emily. Do you not think our discussions in class are not worthwhile? It seems like you have drifted away recently. Talk to me.”
I sighed, and told him about my misgivings. “I’m worried that there is no hope for education. That maybe there isn’t a place for me. How can I graduate and teach in a good school knowing about all these other ones that desperately need good teachers? If I work in an inner city school, I don’t think I can make any change.” Then my professor nodded calmly and said, “This is why you are in this class. So that you see the HUGE need this world has for good teachers in ALL schools. When we face obstacles, we cannot back down, but ask ourselves what role we can take in tackling these challenges.” I found it interesting that this man, who came from a tough neighborhood, had made it this far, and embodied the faith to overcome obstacles big or small. We talked some more and he soon realized that my behavior in class was not because I didn’t care, but because I cared so much. Before the end of our meeting, my professor said, “Maybe this is your calling to get involved in the cause. You can’t solve all of the problems in education, but the inner city schools need good passionate teachers.”
My class eventually ended, but my thinking had changed about education and societal relationships as a whole. I went onto student teaching and then graduation was around the corner. I began to think back to that conversation and wonder if maybe he was right. I decided that this was the time to get involved in the cause.
After graduation, I moved to Washington D.C. I spent three years teaching elementary school in one of the poorest schools in the area. Some of the obstacles my student population faced were poverty, divorce, single parent households, academic deficiency, and homelessness. Then I moved back to Chicago and have spent this past year teaching in one of the most crime filled, gang infested neighborhoods in the city.
Obviously, you come to realize that pursuing your ‘calling’ is not as romantic as maybe you think it will be when you are senior in college! It’s been difficult, exhausting, challenging, and sad. It’s also been the most rewarding time of my life. I’ve seen my students in foster homes, run away, parents that abandon them, parents who are abusive or abuse drugs, lose their ability to support their child, or decide to go back to the street corner. However, I have also seen parents who work three jobs, hop their child on a bus just to get them to the library, come to every teacher conference or school event, and save every dollar to buy their child what they need to do well in school. What amazes me most is that although yes, most of these children face many road blocks, they are able to persevere. My students have made large academic gains, been awarded scholarships to exclusive academic camps, learned how to speak English for the first time, gained confidence, or decided at age 9 that they will in fact go to college one day. My opinions about education are always changing, but for me I see how important it is to have educators who empower urban youth. So to all of you out there, if you want to better yourself and kids' lives, consider teaching! (I promise its worth all the advil you will invest in:)
