Serving Those Who Wish to Serve

For the amount of writing that my students do, it is probably not too much to ask from me to write more than once every four months. However, this makes me think a lot of choice. I can choose when and what I want to write about. However my students do not necessarily have that choice to and there is a chance that they may never get that ability to choose.

For most of them, the choices that they make everyday in school will greatly impact their future. While most people that have lived a middle-class childhood could get away with not doing well in school by shirking a few papers here and there, each paper that my students write are a big deal to them. They know that their futures are heavily dependent on how good their writing is. Unlike students who can get into college because they have money or the middle-class upbringing that has intrinsically blessed them with the type of writing needed to get into college, most of our students have not had experience yet. Instead, they have to work hard to write in a way that is different than what they are used to. So in a sense, they have limited choice into how they can write. I learned to write like how I was taught to speak. Unlike most of us who went to college and had parents who spoke and wrote in a way that colleges prefer, most of my students would be the first in their family to go to college and the way that they speak and write with their parents greatly differs from what colleges prefer.

But writing is just one of many choices that are heavily influenced by their socio-economic situation. As a person who has lived a middle-class life, I have many more choices - choices that my students do not have. When it comes to service, I also have many more choices that my students do not have either.

When I was in college trying to plan my alternative spring break trip or even trying to raise $3,000 to go to Uganda, things were much easier for me than for each of my students trying to scramble to find $500 to do service this spring in New Orleans. It took me a few minutes to create a facebook group where two of my friends (Thanks Josh & Annemieke) quickly donated $100, whereas my sixteen students have written dozens of letters only to get $50 between all of them.

There is a bitter coincidence in thinking that those who need service are also the ones most willing to do so. It makes sense because if you are experiencing poverty firsthand, you would also be the ones most motivated to work for those in poverty. However their connections are limited to those who live within their own community.

Having access to my college network and the middle class peers that I have worked and went to school with makes fundraising for service much easier for me. $50 for a friend with a $30,000 a year job is much more manageable than $50 for a student's parents who both work two jobs to make less money than their family needs to survive.

This begs the question that if we have less, does this mean we have to give less?

In Africa, top developmental experts like Jeffery Sachs and William Easterly, who disagree with each other on many things, at least agree that you cannot only give people who need to eat, fish. As the adage goes, they need the tools to learn how to fish. To do so, it takes the start-up money and resources to learn how to fish.

My students need to learn the tools to improve their community and how to fight for social justice. New Orleans, while half the continent away, offers a glimpse into this. While my students could be doing service in the local community, I know that I would not have the breadth of knowledge that I now have about service and social justice without the amount of travel that I have done to be able to learn from people in situations worse than me.

The choice to serve should not be denied to those who are economically disadvantaged. While students in middle class colleges can easily choose what they want to do for spring break (i.e. anything from service in New Orleans to partying in Cancun), my students are doing everything in their power to try to help the people of New Orleans with what limited resources that they have.

The choice to serve should be universal. Moreover, those who already have the choice should choose to help to give others the chance serve. It is almost selfish for those in the middle class to serve and feel a sense of catharsis when the opportunity to serve should be offered to others as well. When a student needs to worry about where their next meal will come from, it is hard for them to be able to serve others unless someone is willing to give them the choice to do so. If given the chance once again in college, rather than going on an alternative spring break trip myself, I would easily have spent that money to give student here the chance to do so.

If you agree with me, I encourage you to help an economically disadvantaged student in your community to serve. It is not that they do not want to serve – we had over 60 applicants for 16 spots. Rather, it is hard to serve when you have not been given the tools and resources to do so.

Donations to help a student from KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory or KIPP: Pride High (www.kippnc.org) do service this spring in the New Orleans Recovery Schools District may be made out to “Gaston College Preparatory” and sent to:

Patrick Wu
320 Pleasant Hill Rd.
Gaston. NC 27832