Reply #18: When your parents are fighting about money it is hard to learn [View All]

When the neighborhood gangs are targeting you or your little brother or sister it is hard to learn.
When you are taking care of the house and your little brothers and sisters while your parent(s) work two jobs it is hard to learn.
When your Mom or Dad's health needs are not being met it is hard to learn.
When you need extra help (we all do sometime) and all 34 other students in your glass need help, it is hard to learn.
When family or friends families are being rounded up and held indefinitely it is hard to learn.
When your older brother gets followed daily pulled over by the cops 3 times a week by police for no reason while coming home from his job as an asst manager it is hard to learn.
When your sister gets pregnant because she does not have access to birth control and the colicy baby comes to live with you, it is hard to learn.
When you keep overhearing teachers and school administrators making disparaging remarks about your ethnicity, orientation or economic class it is hard to learn.
When alcohol and street drugs are the only relief you have for your depression, it is hard to learn.
When neighborhood churches abandon their role in the community to make things better and start to make things worse it is hard to learn.
When adults think that insurance is health care, that medicare is available to all who need it, that schools are overfunded despite having no supplies, books or maintenance, that schools are some sort of social and political experiment whipping boy, it is hard to learn.
When everyone in the county not involved with you, and having no experience in education think they have a huge say in your school life (except you) and they are negative, stupid, and/or mean it is hard to learn.