A Student's Reality

I have always said I grew up on a rose colored street.  I am from a big family that loves each other and would do anything for each other.  My parents were married 45 years when dad passed away.  They were always proud of us and they were awesome parents and I have lots of happy memories from my childhood.  We assumed everyone lived pretty much like we did.

I got a blunt reality about how far my home life is from some of my students this week.  Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is sit and listen.  One boy was telling me about the violence he witnessed on the streets the night before.  He talked about seeing the victim on the street and how upset some were, but he had seen a lot and he was used to it.  Really?  He is 16 years old and he is used to seeing bodies in the street!  I am 53 years old and have never seen a body in the street!  As my jaw was sitting on the floor, I listened as he talked about the fact that he feels safe at school and that he could act like a kid but when he was home he had to act like an adult in order to stay safe.  He went on to talk about when a teacher gets upset with him, sometimes the "crib" comes out and he gets defensive and mouthy like he would when he is in the community.  He went on to talk about how he can be sad or broken inside but smiling on the outside.  He talked about the number of people in his family that had died because of violence and how his dad is almost nothing to do with him.  His dad has even told him that he does not want him.  He rarely sees dad but he comes around wanting to spend Father's Day with the kid.  He talked about if he dies it will kill his mother and how close he felt he was the night before to that reality.  He was concerned about the violence in the community that night but he promised me he would stay in the house that night to stay safe.

He is 16 years old!  He is only 16 years old and seen so much that I never have!  I was shocked to my core that a kid in my class is "used to seeing violence".  This is the kid that I am trying to teach.  This is the kid that gets into trouble at school.  This is the kid that has trouble getting his homework done or his device charged.  This is the kid that struggles to pass classes.

And we wonder why?