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I'd like to be able to say I don't know how I grew up to be the kind of person who writes sentences like: "We are interested in giving teens a chance to make positive choices."
However, this would be a lie. I was a teen mentor in high school at 15. I was visiting the middle school trying to convince the middle schoolers to make positive choices. I went to one kid's house every week after school to help him with his homework. At his house. Even when we finished it together, he never bothered to turn it in. So I know the futility of FORCING teens to make positive choices.
And I was so irritated as a kid by the syllogism formed by the two big anti-drug slogans of my childhood. "Education for a choice" and "Just Say No". How could anyone fail to put these two statements together and come up with the interpretation: "We're Telling You That There's Only One Choice. Get it? Got it? Good." To be a real choice, there has to be more than one acceptable option.
So, yeah. At 15? Teen Mentor. At 16? Teen tutor, teen mentor, "Senior Leader". At 17? Volunteering through the college volunteer program at Kids Night Out and tutoring at the 6th grade. At 20? Tutor in a non profit. At 22? Tutoring at a youth run youth center. Currently? On my day off mid-week, I tutor for two hours at a homework center.
I may not be able to help you with your real problems, but I can make sure you get your geometry, biology, and pre-calculus homework finished.
That knife-fight scar/ car accident/ suspicious set of round cigarette-looking burns/ bad boyfriend choice / teen pregnancy / severe family poverty issue? Not much I can do about that (those are all things I've observed in kids I tutor, just in the last year. Hey, there's a reason that academic organization is not the first thing on their minds.). But hey, do you want some chances to do art and stuff or tell me about a book you liked?
The truth is that we're on the outside of other people's problems, and no matter how we try, the most we can do is be tools to the hand. We can't make someone want the tool, or want to do the project. We can only offer ourselves as tools for their own workings. Which is hard and sad and scary.
However, this would be a lie. I was a teen mentor in high school at 15. I was visiting the middle school trying to convince the middle schoolers to make positive choices. I went to one kid's house every week after school to help him with his homework. At his house. Even when we finished it together, he never bothered to turn it in. So I know the futility of FORCING teens to make positive choices.
And I was so irritated as a kid by the syllogism formed by the two big anti-drug slogans of my childhood. "Education for a choice" and "Just Say No". How could anyone fail to put these two statements together and come up with the interpretation: "We're Telling You That There's Only One Choice. Get it? Got it? Good." To be a real choice, there has to be more than one acceptable option.
So, yeah. At 15? Teen Mentor. At 16? Teen tutor, teen mentor, "Senior Leader". At 17? Volunteering through the college volunteer program at Kids Night Out and tutoring at the 6th grade. At 20? Tutor in a non profit. At 22? Tutoring at a youth run youth center. Currently? On my day off mid-week, I tutor for two hours at a homework center.
I may not be able to help you with your real problems, but I can make sure you get your geometry, biology, and pre-calculus homework finished.
That knife-fight scar/ car accident/ suspicious set of round cigarette-looking burns/ bad boyfriend choice / teen pregnancy / severe family poverty issue? Not much I can do about that (those are all things I've observed in kids I tutor, just in the last year. Hey, there's a reason that academic organization is not the first thing on their minds.). But hey, do you want some chances to do art and stuff or tell me about a book you liked?
The truth is that we're on the outside of other people's problems, and no matter how we try, the most we can do is be tools to the hand. We can't make someone want the tool, or want to do the project. We can only offer ourselves as tools for their own workings. Which is hard and sad and scary.
