AH! Buber!

This semester I haven't been able to work with a certain organization or group. Instead, I'll be working on the Focus Group Initiative. Yet, in class while listening to people connect the coursework with their service, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out. I also feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to, which made me wonder - Do I have to work for a particular community organization in order to apply what I've learned? But, how would this be service learning? Then, before I could really freak out, I answered my own question.
After spending a week or so on Buber's I And Thou, I needed to relax. So, I went to the gym to blow off some steam and get my mind off of school. But, as I was on the stationary bike, minding my own business - AH! Buber! He managed to pop into my brain.
I was watching these two girls on their treadmills. They were on the heavy side. And, I thought, maybe they're trying to loose some weight, good for them. Since I was day-dreaming, my mind floated from several different topics related to this one. Some how I arrived at the idea of how one shouldn't make fun of people who are overweight. Why? Because one day you could be overweight or someone you love is or will be too and one should treat others the way they want to be treated. That's when (AH!) Buber came into my head.
Wait, I thought. This is still connected to me because I'm only concerned with other people's feelings, overweight people in this case, so long as it has to do with me or those that concern me. Me. I. But, what about them? Shouldn't I just care about other people for their own sake, not as being connected to my "I," but for their "You" - for who they are? Poof, for about thirty seconds I felt as if I knew what Buber's I-Thou was all about. So, I guess I don't have to be knee-deep in service to feel the coursework come to life. (Maybe I should have read Buber in the gym...)

Forgotten Education

Returning back to Davidson after the winter break has made me realize that I may have a flaw in my service learning project. After focusing on teaching the students teambuilding and the importance of respect for one another, individuality and culture I think I may have missed the mark. I can see that there is a strong interest in learning about other cultures and ethnicities, but the most important subject – EDUCATION – does not interest them as much as it should. Many of them feel like they can do without education, that earning just the right amount of F’s and B’s will earn them a passing grade in their classes. Some don’t care about school; others care, but do not have enough motivation. With the second half of the year rapidly coming to a close, I feel as if I set myself up for failure and may not have enough time to make them realize how important is to take this free education and use it to their advantage.

Every time I step into the classroom I think of Jaime Escalante (“Stand and Deliver”), Ron Clark (“The Ron Clark Story”), Erin Gruwell (“Freedom Writers”) and countless other fiction and non-fiction teachers turned hero. I think of how easy the movies made it seem they could spark interest in their students and connect with them. Is that real?? Can that really happen? I think of how hard it was for me to even get a handful of these students to open up; maybe I should have taken them out to dinner like Michelle Pfeiffer’s character did in “Dangerous Minds.” It all seems so surreal to think that there is a problem motivating students to realize the importance of education that it is so difficult, yet there are so many movies and books that may it seem so easy. Where is the truth in all of this? What is the solution to the problem?