Teaching the Next Generation and Moving On

From left to right: Raymond Lau and Randy Lau. Luckily it stopped raining so they went outside to do homework, well it's the last time I'll be helping them and their friends with homework until the fall. 

So once again, I was rejected from Brier Elementary's Bronco Brainiacs. Well this time, I wasn't surprised. It is the end of the school year and there's not many school work left for the students to do anyways. Also because it is the end of the school year, everyone is trying to jam their hours in. So after being shot down, I just went to Walters Jr. High again to help my brothers and his friends with their homework. This time I brought Kammy and Ye along with me. I assumed that they just got bored with their previous volunteer work. Maybe that's the reason why we were shot down from Brier, I brought two more people with me. Oh well, it doesn't matter, we got into Walters anyways. Once again I chose to work as tutor because there are students out there who cannot afford the time and money for a private tutor or to go into for-profit after school programs. With the current economic situation today, students are unable to sign up for the programs that require money and there are students who need the academic help. There are a few free/non-profit after school programs here in Fremont, many of them being programs within the school. So I choose to work in these non-profit programs to spread the news that communities need to start free after school programs as well in order to benefit the students who need the academic support and help they deserve.

When we went to greet my brothers, they were surprised I brought my cousin Kammy, and my friend, Ye, to the program. At first they were convinced that I was going to bring a gang to beat them up, but I rejected the idea. It had been raining earlier today, but by the time we go to Walters, it was already sunny. Sunny enough for the kids to go outside to do their homework. Since there was only about a week of school left, there wasn't really much homework for the students. The 8th graders were pretty distracted, worried about promotion and the promotion dance coming up. The 7th graders like my brothers, they didn't seem to care, they just wanted to get the work done and over with. Due to the lack of homework, all we did was help my brothers and their friends finish up pre-algebra homework and we helped them study. It was pointless for me to help my brothers study in history and English since they know I'm an English fanatic. They didn't want to hear me go on and on over essays and whatnot. History was a different level since they were studying world history so I was no use to them. I was only useful for science and math sadly. In the end, after the homework and studying, we just interacted with the kids. I knew some of the kids were worried about promotion so I decided to give them some advice, like I did last time. "Promotion is a pain. We have to sit in complete alphabetical order of the entire 8th grade," one boy complained. They recently got the news of promotion rehearsals. I remembered back then, and I agree, it was a drag. "Well think about it this way, you won't have to worry about rehearsals again until high school graduation or if you're performing in an event in high school next year," I reassured them. The boys looked at me expressionless and then carried on to talking about their own matters. I guess they thought the reassurance wasn't useful or needed. Sometimes I forget that we have an age gap, causing it hard to communicate with the younger generation. I'll admit it, I don't talk to my brothers that often unless needed to and I don't talk to Kammy's brother, my other cousin, that often either because of our age differences. Although the gap is around three to four years and doesn't seem much, it actually is. So I decided to talk with my brothers' friends instead. One of them, Andrew, was just talking about anime or Pokemon with Randy. Talking to my brothers would be pointless so I decided to talk to Andrew. "Do you think you'll be joining this program again in eighth grade? I mean, last year in junior high and here you are, staying after school to do homework," I asked him, wondering if the seventh graders would be joining again this fall. "I'm not sure, it depends on my parents. But I wouldn't really care since I'm here to get help on my homework anyways. And as a bonus, I'm with my friends too so it doesn't really matter. It's not going to suck all that bad," he answered. So some students wouldn't mind being in homework programs again as long as their friends were with them.

It was time to go and I begin to wonder to myself, "So are kids really here because they want to or because their parents want them to?" I know in some households, some families cannot afford to hire a babysitter or they don't trust their children to be at home alone so they would sign their kids up in after school programs just to keep their kids there until they're done with work. Or sometimes, parents just want their kids to get the homework help while the kids don't want to go at all. It all boils down to free will or forced against their will to join these programs. I know that some of the kids didn't want to be at the program, as I was helping some students with their homework, I overheard some students complaining that they could be doing this and that other than doing homework, stuck at school still, past school hours. However some other students, like my brothers Raymond and Randy as well as their friend Andrew, they acknowledge that they got signed up for a reason, and that reason was that they needed the academic help in certain subjects. So they just do what they normally do, do their homework, study a bit, and with a bit of extra time, they go hang out or play or chat on the fields. As this will be my last time working here before summer breaks loose, I felt proud that I was teaching the next generation and I felt reassured that the next generation isn't as clueless as some people may claim them to be. Though I do worry for some students who don't seem to be putting in any effort, I am reassured that at least a few students understand my cause for working here. Now I can look back and think how I made a difference in a few students' minds and changed their views on non-profit after school programs.