After recounting an incident in which a student was almost mistakenly removed from his home by the local child services administration, writingsam, a young teacher in New York, reflects on how her idealism has been tempered by the reality of her students’ problems. Or perhaps the better word is toughened:
Over the Christmas break, my mother and I were laughing about how intent I was on saving the world during college. After the aforementioned vaguely described incident, one student verbalizing that he wanted to commit suicide, and another student crying that he was scared to go back to live in his old house, I would settle for being able to save one kid from falling through the cracks. I love my job, I love my students, but I am do not love the feelings of helplessness that can arise on days such as this when you have become a part of such a warped system.
Why, she wonders, isn’t there more public outrage at the circumstances of some students?
(From clean up on aisle life).
