Officially Effectively Ineffective

I spend a lot of time at work. During the week, I wake up early to try and beat most of the staff to the building. Once at work I prepare for the day, reading email, getting a little daily devotion, helping our front office staff with any issues, and plotting out the day. The hours go by quickly with meetings, discipline, phone calls, and observations. Then in the afternoons there are the usual club sponsored activities, sports events, meetings, after school tutoring or detention, etc.

With so many things occurring in the week, I find myself sneaking into the building on the weekends for a few hours to knock out incompleted projects; this is the only way I make it in the week. Today was no different. It was a school holiday, President's Day, but I had to get over to the school to get some work done. Honestly, the time I put into my job does not bother me until I begin to feel ineffective for those I truly serve: children.

I am beginning to feel more and more defeated as a school organization when I see the number of students that are failing and not finding academic success. It's more pronounced than ever, and I can't ever remember seeing kids struggling like this when I was growing up. I am dealing with 11 and 12 year olds that are pregnant and 15 year olds that are still in middle school. My young men are associated with gangs, and the ones that are not are too scared to say otherwise. They would rather be on Myspace or text messaging than reading a book or showing some school spirit. They can tell me everything about Soulja Boy, Little Wayne, and Chris Brown, but can't solve a simple equation or explain what a sentence fragment is. And, the icing on the cake is I live in a middle class, quaint suburban community. Poverty in my building is just under 20%, and we're on the higher end for those numbers.

It is a new generation that requires those of us working in education to think WAY outside the box in order to have motivated, engaged pupils. So it came as no surprise when CNN had a news story about a school division in Georgia that plans to to have single gendered schools. Their reasoning is that children are too distracted by the opposite sex and separation will hopefully pull up those students that are getting left behind. On Good Morning, America, there was a story entitled "Earn to Learn." Several states have caught on and are paying students for making good grades. Some students make up to $300 a year.

Sadly, I see the challenges and obstacles of motivating kids right in my own backyard. Family members and close friends speak with me about the issues they're facing in raising children in today's society. Unfortunately, the black male seems to be having the most setbacks. It doesn't matter the household--rich, middle class, or poor--our young black men continue to fall behind all other students.

In the mentoring program I volunteer with I had a young man that would seriously be okay with making $186 a week selling drugs than pulling himself together to do a little work in school in order to have credible job. He has no desire to flip burgers, and he and the system have mutually failed each other in taking the time to help him. He can't read a sentence, but he could likely show me how to hot wire a car...

I am left feeling a bit defeated with questions about why I do what I do...Then I think back to my day on Saturday. There is a young lady I've been working with since she was in the sixth grade. She bucked the system and stayed in the office her first year of middle school. She was the one who would throw a punch without giving it a second thought. Her attitude was very poor and she was unwilling to open up to the adults that were trying to teach her. One day her whole attitude changed during one of our program sessions. She wrote down some things that had happened to her, and one of the male mentors brought it to my attention. We started talking about her experiences and how to channel the anger. She is now in high school and excelling. Her grades are remarkable (for her). She is college bound and sets an example for those around her.

I know that if I haven't affected any other lives I have at least touched one. I am aware that it takes a willingness and desire to want to do good in order to get out of the rut you're in. When I asked for this job, I didn't ask that it be easy but I have great expectations that include changing and helping lives.