When most people discuss student-teacher relationships, they think of relationships that go too far. But for many younger, neglected students, that relationship doesn’t go far enough.
Teachers just don’t have enough time to form bonds with their students. It’s not necessarily the fault of the teachers, but at the same time, they have some responsibility as a major figure in the lives of these children.
I volunteer at an underprivileged elementary school in Baton Rouge. I recently walked into a third grade classroom to find one of the students, a little girl, crying in her seat.
I looked to the teacher to see if she was going to address the silent tears rolling down the student’s cheeks, but it looked like no one even noticed.
So I took the girl outside, and after a little bit of coaxing, I got her to open up. She said another student in class asked her what happened to her mother, who recently passed away. On top of that, her father is in jail, leaving her aunt to raise her.
Naturally, the topic got her upset, and thus the waterworks intensified. Not knowing whether to cry myself or give an uplifting speech, I just asked if she wanted a hug. Nodding her head, she squeezed my waist and took a few deep breaths before she resumed her usual giggles and playful pokes.
This small incident got me thinking about her situation and the many students like her who go through major hardships but are left alone to cry while their teachers move on with class.
There is a tendency to target these children as problem kids and ignore them, or on the opposite end, send them to another classroom or school that goes especially slow to suit their needs.
Sometimes this is necessary, but other times it could be avoided by teachers simply taking the time to get to know their students on a deeper level than their reading comprehension scores.
I probably know more about that little girl from spending one hour a week with her than her own teacher knows after seven hours each day.
This is something the many elementary education majors at the University should take into consideration before deeming themselves equipped to handle multiple students in one of the most developmental times of their lives. You must have a passion for people — not just for the subject you teach.
Teachers really are special people. It requires dedication to genuinely care for someone else’s children. Just make sure to be the good kind of special and not the kind people mention with a sarcastic undertone.
It would be great if personal connections could be completely separate from school life. But human nature doesn’t allow us to easily separate emotion and work.
Until every teacher measures up to the role model standard students need, we need to get these children the attention they deserve without drastically changing the entire teacher-student ratio law.
One way to combat this issue is with volunteers. More volunteer and mentoring programs should be implemented in schools, especially in the more disadvantaged areas of our cities. Sometimes authority figures like teachers can be intimidating, and these kids need role models who are a little less judgmental.
Unfortunately, not every student was born with the consistent personal life others have, and it’s up to the figures around them to make up for the lack of people these children can depend on.
When people grow up, they tend to immediately lose touch with the innocent outlook they once felt as children. If more people got involved with the massive amounts of underprivileged youth in our area, they would gain back some of their lost perspective.
You would be amazed at how much you can gain by befriending a child who would otherwise be forgotten.
Annette Sommers is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Dublin, Calif.