Helping Students Help Themselves

In the midst of the Kony 2012/Stop Kony 2012 madness the past couple days, I have been thinking about and discussing the ideas of privilege and the savior complex and the implications of these things for the way I as an individual interact with my local and global community as well the the implications for the way our nation positions itself domestically and internationally. I obviously don't have the resolution to this incredibly multifaceted and volatile debate so I am not going to pretend that I do. Rather, I am going to offer my thoughts on how these things relate to being a literacy service provider, since this is something I have some (albeit limited) experience in.

As a Literacy AmeriCorps member in Central Texas serving at a nonprofit that provides literacy services, students come to me voluntarily seeking my help. Thus, my position in relation to my students is already inherently different than that of an American seeking to help a person who lives on another continent than them and has not necessarily asked for their help. But, I still want to be very concious of never slipping into the misguided (and unfortunately rather common) mindset that I am the one who has all the answers and is needed to "rescue" a student. Quite the contrary. It is the courage and persistence of a student that enables them to effect positive change in their life. As a literacy instructor, I am simply there to facilitate student learning and help them help themselves.

I am immensely grateful to be part of a program (Literacy AmeriCorps) and an agency (LifeWorks) that operate in a way that promotes and applies this type of thinking. I have been well taught to think of myself as an ally and partner with students rather than the traditional teacher above student hierarchy. Adult students are the best source of knowledge for what they need and want, an idea in the same vein as the operational mentality of "African Solutions for African Problems." Our students (who come from all over the world and represent a vast array of global and local issues), like all people, have a voice and need to be really heard and listened to in a meaningful way, and I am honored to get the chance to do just that here in my own hometown. I welcome the challenge of putting these ideas into practice day to day and hope to always apply them to the way I think about any local or global issue. I also hope and pray they will be applied by others, from ordinary citizens to national leadership, as well.