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Home : 2004 : November : 24

I know
By Teacher

what you mean. I teach in a school with many students from low socio-economic backgrounds. The fact is, parents are a big part of the child's learning process. When the families aren't involved or worse, do not believe
in the education system, there is only so much a teacher can do. Most of these kids don't want to be there. The saddest part is, their parents don't care whether they are there either. There just isn't enough time in the day to properly teach the basics if students aren't working on it outside of class time. It's like learning a new language - you can practice at home, but until you

actually start using the language in a variety of situations, you won't REALLY master it (well, I'm not saying it's not possible; you need the right motivation and drive, though, and these students do not have that). The parents don't think the education system benifitted them any, so why should it benefit their son or daughter? I'm generalizing, though; of course there are students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds and have involved parents and do well in school. When a child is getting moved from place to place, relative to relative, or is not sleeping because his/her parents are up all night, or is scared that the father will come and abuse the mother, etc, etc. it just DOESN'T WORK!! It's so sad and so frustrating. It really takes away from teaching and learning time to have to deal with these issues. I sometimes feel like we did nothing except attempt to repair the messes that are these children's lives. I only hope that it is all worth it in the end.