So, I'm teaching a couple of composition courses at a community college for the first time this semester. It's a new thing for me, as I've been teaching at an elite liberal arts college for the past few years. It's pretty cool at the CC, actually. I've got students from lots of different backgrounds--suburban kids trying to save a buck, teenage welfare moms trying to get off the dole, older folks who've been laid off and are trying to retrain, folks fresh from the military or prison trying to reintegrate, and so on. There are plenty of slackers, but by and large most of my students are really trying to better themselves, and sometimes making big sacrifices to do so.
It's those sacrifices that lead to this post, actually. It turns out financial aid works a little different at the CC level--in order to cut down on fraud, students have to attend 20% of the class, verified by the instructors, before their finaid is processed. What this means is that students don't get their finaid payouts until six weeks into the semester. The upshot of this is that some of my students have been having real trouble making ends meet while they wait, because they're working part-time or, in some cases, not at all while they go to school full time, and the bills don't stop rolling in. It's taken me awhile to cotton on to this, because they aren't talking to me about it, at least not directly, but it shows up in their writing and in their conversations. I've got students (some with kids) with no cars, no phones, no internet, etc., and a couple, at least, who are having trouble feeding themselves adequately.
As a grad student myself, I'm used to a no-frills life, but this seems unnecessarily harsh, especially when these folks are really working hard in class and living up to their responsibilities as students.
So, as a teacher I have to maintain a certain, restricted and somewhat impersonal sort of relationship with my students--I'm here to teach them, not be their pal--but I'd like to do something about this (though the whole thing may change next week when the payout comes, I hope to continue teaching here in future semesters, and am thinking ahead).
Would I be overstepping bounds if I set up a classroom food bank, at least during the first few weeks? Most everybody knows how tight things can get, so I'm thinking I could just generally ask folks to donate food if they can, and then those that need it can contact me, in my office, to pick it up, no questions asked. No extra credit or anything for those that donate--purely voluntary, with no extraneous incentive--and a degree of anonymity for those who pick it up. Anything extra would go to a food bank.
Just for the record, I'm not playing the bleeding heart here. I haven't been asked for anything, nor has anyone made any such requests to the class, and it's some of my most engaged students that seem to be in this situation. In fact, I started thinking about this when one of my barely-solvent students asked me about starting a clothing drive because the kids in the (crappy) neighborhood where he rents a place don't seem to have adequate cold-weather clothing.
So what do you think? Appropriate or not? I thought I'd bounce it off all of you before taking it further, and depending on how y'all respond, I'll either drop the idea or approach the department chair about it next week.
Thanks,
Ryan
It's those sacrifices that lead to this post, actually. It turns out financial aid works a little different at the CC level--in order to cut down on fraud, students have to attend 20% of the class, verified by the instructors, before their finaid is processed. What this means is that students don't get their finaid payouts until six weeks into the semester. The upshot of this is that some of my students have been having real trouble making ends meet while they wait, because they're working part-time or, in some cases, not at all while they go to school full time, and the bills don't stop rolling in. It's taken me awhile to cotton on to this, because they aren't talking to me about it, at least not directly, but it shows up in their writing and in their conversations. I've got students (some with kids) with no cars, no phones, no internet, etc., and a couple, at least, who are having trouble feeding themselves adequately.
As a grad student myself, I'm used to a no-frills life, but this seems unnecessarily harsh, especially when these folks are really working hard in class and living up to their responsibilities as students.
So, as a teacher I have to maintain a certain, restricted and somewhat impersonal sort of relationship with my students--I'm here to teach them, not be their pal--but I'd like to do something about this (though the whole thing may change next week when the payout comes, I hope to continue teaching here in future semesters, and am thinking ahead).
Would I be overstepping bounds if I set up a classroom food bank, at least during the first few weeks? Most everybody knows how tight things can get, so I'm thinking I could just generally ask folks to donate food if they can, and then those that need it can contact me, in my office, to pick it up, no questions asked. No extra credit or anything for those that donate--purely voluntary, with no extraneous incentive--and a degree of anonymity for those who pick it up. Anything extra would go to a food bank.
Just for the record, I'm not playing the bleeding heart here. I haven't been asked for anything, nor has anyone made any such requests to the class, and it's some of my most engaged students that seem to be in this situation. In fact, I started thinking about this when one of my barely-solvent students asked me about starting a clothing drive because the kids in the (crappy) neighborhood where he rents a place don't seem to have adequate cold-weather clothing.
So what do you think? Appropriate or not? I thought I'd bounce it off all of you before taking it further, and depending on how y'all respond, I'll either drop the idea or approach the department chair about it next week.
Thanks,
Ryan
