Their Hard Day’s
Night
It only
occurred to me that adult education is different than the kind of teaching that
I’m used to – that is with kids.
Through a
rough estimation, I can say that 45 yrs. old is the average age in our class of
10-15 students (it varies every session). These people have real jobs, with real
wives and kids to support. I would assume that many of them come to the class
after a day’s long work only to be bombarded by history facts. Sometimes, there
is at least one student with a tire expression.
Other than
having a difficulty of putting myself above the position of adults in the
class, I haven’t figured out my niche as well.
Yes, I pass handouts and lead readings but other forms of helping, I
don’t do. And so I just watched the class unfold with special focus on the
student. I still don’t know where I stand that it’s hard to assert my helping
hand.
It’s amazing.
The effort that they put in the class often does not match the fatigue in their
eye. They remain attentive. Sometimes, Martha would ask the students
about their culture or personal life and the whole class would either be
rocking with laughter or be sympathetic, depending on the nature of the
experience being narrated. It humbles me to the ground of how much these people
are trying to obtain citizenship when others take it for granted. As a student,
I feel ashamed of my pathetic whinings in school and the fact that I don’t take
my studies seriously sometimes.
And so for
the class I just watched and handed out worksheets and smiled and laughed along
with them. I don’t know but it was just me but it feels like the mood was
lighter with a smiling teenager in the room. I would always have that small
smile and the students would smile back. I’m not fond of smiling but they make
me smile.
They really
are beautiful people that humanize the immigration issue for me.
