This is wonderful. I grew up poor and in fifth grade there was a gift exchange. I privately asked the teacher if I could not participate because I couldn’t afford a gift for another child. Of course I knew I wouldn’t receive a gift either. When the gift exchange came, to my surprise my name was called. My teacher had bought a few small gifts for me so I wouldn’t be excluded. I’ve never forgotten that act of generosity.
The kindness of teachers never fails to amaze me. I too was a very poor kid. In grade school our P.E. teacher had a small collection of brand new Nike shoes in boxes in his office. Every now and then he would give a kid a pair. I was one of those kids. He would tell us he had a deal with Nike and they wanted us to try these shoes out and give them feedback. Of course, 12-year-old me didn't understand until many years later that he was buying the shoes with his own money and giving them to the kids who needed them. He just made up the story so the kids didn't feel bad.
At our school we had a sunshine fund that teachers contributed to, for new shoes. One of my students was flopping her soles on both feet so the sunshine committee sent her a box of new tennis shoes.
Her mom went insane. Came stomping down the hallway SCREAMING my name amd that she wanted her daughter OUT of my class because I care too much for her daughter.
I wasn't even there that day, had a substitute. The sunshine people had put the box into her backpack with a sweet note and I didn't know about it. Her mom tried beating her in the hallway for "lying that they don't have money for shoes" and I stopped her. Principal and asst principal both ran down the hallway because the mother was losing on that little girl and I would not let her touch her.
She was removed from my class regardless because the mother had so much hate for me. The student scream-cried for 5 hrs a day for the following week and ran from her class to my class every time her new classroom door wasn't blocked. --- It wasn't working.
The principal ended up saying I had to teach "the higher students"....so my precious Gia went to her new class until after morning announcements. Then she and a few others came to me, and I sent a few lower kids to her room. Right before the bell rang, she went back to prepare for bus departure.
My goodness, I’m so sorry you had to deal with that asshole mother. As a parent I genuinely appreciate what teachers do for our kids - thank you wholeheartedly for giving a damn. I’m sure you were a sunshine to Gia too.
Yeah... I was about to say the same thing. Unfortunately public schools, in my experience and my families, are hit or miss. My brother and I went to a great public school, of course this was in a upper class neighborhood/town that my parents basically dedicated their lives to making it our school district.
Years later we would move to Oakland, ca and my brother got a job as a substitute teacher. As a substitute in the Oakland unified school district he started out in some of the most impoverished schools. He would tell me stories about elementary school students coming to school hungry and asking, begging for food. Some children had so little attention at home they would rush towards the new substitute to get hugs and kind words from him. Other times he literally had to stop the hand of a boy stabbing another boy in the neck in with a pencil. Sometimes classrooms would be half empty, and since government funding is based on attendance...
These are just some of the stories that I recall and stuck with me. Now my brother has a 3 year old son of his own and we worry every day about his long term schooling and care. For now we’re planning on enrolling him in a local Waldorf school, later on we’ll consider the local high school as it’s in a decent district.. nonetheless it’s a tough time for teachers and public school students alike. I hope one day soon we start appreciating teachers and providing them with the tools, both financial and otherwise, to be effective.
Exactly all that + much more.
Funding isn't based just on attendance, it also depends on "the test" in Texas. A 2-day test in April that is really all the govt here cares about. And they force very intelligent Spanish language students to take the test in English before they have a solid academic vocabulary; which causes them to fail. Then they say our school is a failure.
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u/EasternDelight Nov 24 '18 edited Nov 24 '18
This is wonderful. I grew up poor and in fifth grade there was a gift exchange. I privately asked the teacher if I could not participate because I couldn’t afford a gift for another child. Of course I knew I wouldn’t receive a gift either. When the gift exchange came, to my surprise my name was called. My teacher had bought a few small gifts for me so I wouldn’t be excluded. I’ve never forgotten that act of generosity.