Why Education Anonymous

This past summer, I tutored two summer school math classes for incoming freshmen in

my district. I've tutored dozens of students in my high school career, so when I was working with

these students, I wasn't expecting anything to be different. That's why I was so surprised when

the teacher pulled me aside and told me she had given a student one of my pop-tarts. He hadn't

eaten all day. My school prides itself on being diverse, but I hadn’t considered it diverse in an

economic sense until that day. I had peers who were lacking one of the basic essentials,

something I took for granted, food.

I thought I had prepared myself for any tutoring scenario. I thought I knew my school

district and every background it encompassed, but I was wrong. I learned there were people

walking the same halls as me, even sitting next to me in class, who live in conditions I couldn’t

even imagine. It was surprising and devastating.

Since this experience, my understanding of my students’ and peers’ needs have

changed. I had no idea about his struggles until it was brought to my attention. I had just

assumed that, like me, he had eaten breakfast that morning and dinner the night before. I

couldn’t believe something like that happened in my community. The...