"The current spate of reports on the schools criticizes parents for not involving themselves in the education of their children. But how would someone like Tommy Rose, with his two years of Italian schooling, know what to ask? And what sort of pressure could an exhausted waitress apply?"
-Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary
I was reading for Monday when I came across this line that I think is very pertinent to my life right now. I'm currently a volunteer at The Bridge Project, a non-profit that is dedicated to "providing educational opportunities for children living in Denver's public housing neighborhoods so they graduate from high school and attend college or learn a trade", as their mission statement provides.
Every Thursday I take the light-rail over to 10th and Osage to the on location site of the Project. Here I find Precious, the precocious little 10-year-old girl whom I tutor. Together we work on her math and reading skills, both of which she is behind where the educational system says she should be.
Precious is one of the many kids who has been affected in the same way as Mike Rose. People say that parents should be more involved in their kids education, but not all parents are able to be there because often they themselves earned little more than an elementary school education. These are the people have been overlooked by the educational system and have been forced on a path of hard work and heavy labor, barely scraping by day after day. How can you criticize someone like this and tell them that they're not doing enough for their kids when, more often than not, they're doing the best they can.
Thus, The Bridge Project; there for these kids in a way that their parents want to be, but don't always know how. Because not all kids are lucky enough to have a Jack MacFarland in their schools to get them through and into college.
On a different note, before reading this article, I had no clue what I was going to write about for my Literacy paper. Now I've realized that my experiences with Precious wouldn't be bad. The struggle we work through together every time. Getting her to not only read the words, but to comprehend what it is she's actually reading. I want for her to learn to love reading as I did when I was her age. It's so hard to see the obstacles that have been placed before this cute little girl, and how much harder she has to work as a result. I'm learning how truly privileged I've been in my own life to attend the great schools that I have, and have the parents that I do who were able to be there for me in ways that Rose and Precious's parents haven't been able.
Anyway, there's my ramblings for one night. As it's now 12:30pm, I think I'm going to hit the sack. That, or do some homework. Oh the good times!
Every Thursday I take the light-rail over to 10th and Osage to the on location site of the Project. Here I find Precious, the precocious little 10-year-old girl whom I tutor. Together we work on her math and reading skills, both of which she is behind where the educational system says she should be.
Precious is one of the many kids who has been affected in the same way as Mike Rose. People say that parents should be more involved in their kids education, but not all parents are able to be there because often they themselves earned little more than an elementary school education. These are the people have been overlooked by the educational system and have been forced on a path of hard work and heavy labor, barely scraping by day after day. How can you criticize someone like this and tell them that they're not doing enough for their kids when, more often than not, they're doing the best they can.
Thus, The Bridge Project; there for these kids in a way that their parents want to be, but don't always know how. Because not all kids are lucky enough to have a Jack MacFarland in their schools to get them through and into college.
On a different note, before reading this article, I had no clue what I was going to write about for my Literacy paper. Now I've realized that my experiences with Precious wouldn't be bad. The struggle we work through together every time. Getting her to not only read the words, but to comprehend what it is she's actually reading. I want for her to learn to love reading as I did when I was her age. It's so hard to see the obstacles that have been placed before this cute little girl, and how much harder she has to work as a result. I'm learning how truly privileged I've been in my own life to attend the great schools that I have, and have the parents that I do who were able to be there for me in ways that Rose and Precious's parents haven't been able.
Anyway, there's my ramblings for one night. As it's now 12:30pm, I think I'm going to hit the sack. That, or do some homework. Oh the good times!
1 comment:
You've written an excellent reflection--one that ties together your work at the Bridge Project, our reading, and your insights. I appreciate very much your nuanced sense of how challenging it can be for some parents to give their children what they need. Poverty, low-income work, lack of education--all these factors make it so difficult to break out of the cycle you refer to. The work you're doing is very important; I look forward to reading more about in your draft.
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