My literacy experience is similar to the experience these kids are experiencing, because some of them attend schools with teachers that don’t like their jobs, don’t care if the students learn or not, and are only concerned with the extracurricular activities they’re involved in. I’m from a small farming town in the southwest corner of Missouri, where FFA (Future Farmers of America) is the biggest club, and Home Economics is the most important class. There was a select group of kids that cared about their education and wanted to go to college, and I was part of that group, but the vast majority of kids took off school or only went to school for half of the day so they could farm with their family. The kids at Easley might not be farmers, and they might not know a farmer, but football, basketball, and stepping are easily the most important parts of school for both them and their teachers. College isn’t just a dream, it’s not even a thought that passes through anyone’s mind—except the kids at magnet schools. The division that existed at my school between farmers and future college students exists at Easley between “dumb school kids” and “magnet school kids,” and it’s incredibly sad.
The main differences I noticed are the presence of magnet schools; I didn’t even know what a magnet school was until I took this course, and when I first heard about it, I thought that it would’ve been a great opportunity for me in school. Be solely around people that want to learn and go to college, and the kids who don’t desire that can go to a school that focuses more on vocational classes. However, I very quickly realized that this division helps out the magnet school kids, but ruins any hopes or desires the “dumb school kids” might have had for going to college. Their chances of going to college are ruined before they even enter high school; at least at my high school, if someone decided their junior or senior year to suddenly care about school and try to go to college, they had the classes and opportunities available to try. If a “dumb school kid” were to decide to try to go to college, they would have no chance, because the school they go to is not for college bound kids. This affects their desire to study, and it shows when I tutor them. And as I’m tutoring them, I can’t help but think, “Who ruined your zest for life, the desire for learning you could’ve had?” And when I try to tell them that they’re smart, that they can figure out the answer on their own, they look at me as if to say, “No, I can’t. You know I can’t. I don’t even know how to try.” And the defeat in their faces breaks my heart, because they’re so young, and they have their whole lives ahead of them, and already they’ve decided… it’s over.
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