Reality

Every now and again, we tend to forget to look outside that little bubble in which we live and see the larger picture. Teaching has a way of bursting that bubble quickly. It is a highly interactive job and I have come to love it. Not for the fact that i impart knowledge but because i get to meet all these different personalities. We went back to work on Monday but it was only today that I saw the kids. Really, I don't go to the breakfasts because there is nothing beyond the coffee that i can eat however, today I went. The kids were serving breakfast so I was pretty sure that I would see some of my students from last year. And saw I did! I got hugged and squeezed as well!
Later on, I had to leave my room because it was being used as a "display" room for the new student orientation. I was entering the building and walking in the planning area when I saw two little indian boys...an older brother, about 7, holding his younger brother who's 3, on his lap. Of course I had to stop and talk to them. I'm a lot better when it comes to talking to the little ones now. Either way, it's a lot of fun. The older brother told me that he was there with his mom because his eldest brother will be entering school this year and i found out this evening that the eldest brother will be in my 9th grade class.
Here's where reality steps in....I was waiting in Janice's room because my room was still occupied....when one of my students from last year walked in. I got another hug/squeeze. Janice had her for biology and i had her for chem. Either way, after I asked her how she was, she blurted out to me that she was getting evicted from her home. Turns out that they were one of the millions of families who fell behind on their mortgages because they bought homes when the prices were inflated. Even though her dad went to the company and told them he couldn't make the monthly payment, the bankers gave him the usual run around and they were ignored. By this time, Janice realized that I was having a deeper conversation with the kid and she joined in as well. Somewhere in the whole thing, I thought of where this family would have to live now or if they will even have a place to stay. Things are worse than it looks.
Then, I went to put up a poster in the cafeteria for the new Ecology club that I decided to chair this year. I saw more of my students and even met a parent of one little darling i had last year. The parent hugged me too:D This is a great job! Either way, I met a student whose mother has cervical cancer. All of last year, we spoke about it because we were both in the same boat. Actually, I never had this student...I had his brother, Jesus, in 2009. It turned out that Jesus was transferred to my class because he was an 11th grader and I mostly teach this group. When he came over, he was failing and I knew his attendance as horrible. The teacher before told me that he was just an unmotivated kid but i noticed that when Jesus showed up to class, he was pretty smart. At the same time, Janice found out from the younger brother that their mother had cancer and on her really bad days, either him or Jesus would stay home with her to help her walk or move her around the house. The kid's name is Abdon. He was Janice's but somehow, he took a liking to me as well and every time his mom ended up in the hospital, he would come to us to sort of cheer him up. Him and Jesus dealt with it differently. he is more sensitive. Jesus hides it. Either way, when the mom was first diagnosed, she had no health insurance. She had to wait a long time and deal with the run around again for some kind-hearted person to give her some sort of insurance. All the while, the cancer spread. We heard of the hysterectomy, the hair loss, the pain, the nausea, the numerous trips to the hospital, and finally today, I was hoping when i asked that she was still alive for this child's sake. After he hugged me for a while, almost as if he was letting all the sentiments out, he told me that his mother's stomach was now swollen and she couldn't walk anymore. All the while, this student will graduate in the top 10% of his class.
Finally, we returned to Janice's classroom and there were three kids waiting in there. One of them had already graduated and the other two would graduate in this school year. We were asking the one who graduated about his school goals, etc. and we found out that he was not going to school, only working. I couldn't remember where I had seen this kid until he said his name and I realized that i had seen his picture on my class roster. He was enrolled but always got switched out of my class. Either way, Janice was asking him why he wasn't going to school if he also graduated in the first 10% of his class. I was telling him that by getting the letter from the governor, he was ensured access to any public university in Florida. He didn't know that.  He was telling us that he needs to work to help his parents and I was telling him that you can work and go to school too...even if it's only one class. Then something clicked. His name. He was an immigrant. I blurted it out, " can you even get registered in school?" I hadn't noticed until then that he had put on his sunglasses and I could no longer see his eyes. He was making up things to hide the fact that he had no papers. He told me a truthful and very heartbreaking, "no." This is the third kid from that one graduating class who came out in the top 50 (10%) students and couldn't get to go on to college even though he wanted to. Even worse is the fact that the valedictorian of next year's class is in the same position.
They tell us not to not get so close to these students but you end up really liking them. You hear their stories and it breaks your heart. Every day, you hear politicians squabbling about health care, the housing problem, and immigration and here you have these children telling you so openly about their problems. Right about now I feel like walking into congress and telling all of these a-holes to go f*ck themselves since the only ones they really care about is themselves anyway!