When I originally conceived of the title for this blog, I was stealing a phrase used about patients who have myriads of medical problems. Colloquially and away from patients, doctors call these patients train wrecks, everything is wrong. There may be mental, congenital, and emergency health problems confounding a team of physicians working like mad to put out one fire after another. When I asked what do you do when faced with such a disastrous coalition of ailments, how can doctors cope, my wife replied: "you can always make a train wreck better."
I thought the same thinking applied to many of my students. Many students have poor to no family support, medical and mental health problems, food and housing insecurity and full-time jobs. One friend pointed out that calling students train wrecks wasn't terribly respectful even if it was honestly expressed.
I've come to realize that there is a train wreck, but it's not my students. It's the world around them. How is that our country lacks paid time off for parents like every other western democracy? How is it that someone working minimum wage can still not earn a living wage? How can racism continue to shape our lives in such pervasive ways? How do women still only earn a percentage of the wage men earn?
What I find energizing about the train wreck analogy is that it highlights the scope of the problems my students face. I'm realizing that I've been working with a misplaced focus. It's not about making the train wreck that is society a little better, it's about helping students survive the train wreck successfully. Read that again, survive a train wreck successfully. That's mine and every other community college teacher's charge.
Safe home.
