‘My school is in such a poor area, paper for the students is considered a luxury’

‘Teachers trade favors for paper’ says this Chicago middle school teacher
27th September 2016, 5:40pm

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‘My school is in such a poor area, paper for the students is considered a luxury’

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/my-school-such-poor-area-paper-students-considered-luxury
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I have to buy my own copy paper. Yes, paper. If I want to provide my students with photocopies for my lessons, I have to supply my own paper. I’d like to just use the textbook, but I’m a Science teacher and our books are woefully outdated. We’re talking Pluto is still a planet outdated.

So, in order to do my job as a licensed educator, I purchase my own copy paper for all the graphic organisers, vocabulary sheets and articles necessary to teach my 120 students.

Maybe other districts don’t have to worry about paper, but mine does. Maybe other districts have hearty budgets and can provide all the paper a teacher could wish for. I bet those teachers get pens and pencils and dry-erase markers, too. They probably even get a horde of tissue and paper towels and hand sanitizer on the first day.

Teachers in my school trade favours for paper, and our students are experts at not marking up a class set. My students know not to ask for an extra copy because an extra copy is a luxury.

I work in the poorest community in my county and we are surrounded by wealth and abundance. All the students in my district are eligible for free lunch. Many are transient, some are homeless, all are food insecure.

Some dodge violence and addiction in their own homes and again on the walk to school. Some come to school to escape their family members turning tricks in the room next to theirs. Some come to school just for something to do and something to eat.

When these children get to school, they trust that their teachers will take care of them and have enough paper stashed to effectively teach them something new.

My students overcome odds that our wealthy neighbours would never consider. Our neighbours and their schools have plentiful extra-curricular activities, and even uniforms for physical education classes. Their soccer players don’t have to share jerseys during a game. I bet their teachers never worry about paper.

I have to buy my own copy paper to do my job as a licensed professional educator in the United States of America. In the US, education is touted as being the great equalizer, where one can pull himself up by his bootstraps and achieve the American Dream.

But I chose to teach in my school community because I believe education is the biggest threat to the inequities that keep people in poverty and make paper a luxury. What keeps me awake at night? I wonder if I have enough paper for tomorrow’s lessons.

C. O’Kelly is a  Middle School Teacher in the North Suburbs of Chicago.

Tell us what keeps you awake at night; email: chloe.darracott-cankovic@tesglobal.com

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