Unlikely combinations

One of my favorite things about teaching adult literacy classes is that they bring people together. Not only am I given the opportunity to interact with people from very different backgrounds (than me and than each other) that I would otherwise have to intentionally seek out to mingle with, students get to do this as well. I love stretching, challenging, and expanding understanding of this world and self by spending significant time (in both quality and quantity) with people of different racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Students come to us for help with specific skills (English language, reading and writing, digital literacy); they get these, and they get a lot more. While this education is less formal, I think it is extremely valuable and important. 

This month, a Hungarian student in my advanced ESL class has a friend visiting from Hungary, so she came to our class. As we did introductions, it really hit me what an eclectic group this was - two highly education women from Hungary, a Catholic priest from Mexico, a stay at home mom from India, a nurse aide from Cameroon, a retired tax accountant, and a young literacy instructor. 4 different races, 5 different countries, an age range of early 20s to early 60s. That kind of mix just doesn't happen in our normal day to day lives.

In my basic ABE class, I have 4 students who are also quite the mixed bag. A white man in his late 50s who is from the northeast and has physical and cognitive difficulties; a black man in his late 50s who grew up here in Austin, has spent time in jail, and struggles with alcoholism; a black woman in her early 50s who grew up here in Austin, has raised a family and worked for the state for more than 20 years; and a 25 year old black man who graduated high school without learning to read or write because he was just passed through so he could play football. And then there's me - young, white, grew up in an upper middle class home, college educated. A rather unlikely group of people to be spending 4 hours a week together. 

I love getting to be part of the societal cross section that makes up our classes. I love the way traditional cultural boundaries are discarded in the spirit of learning and the way that expands and empowers our sense of self as a member of a larger community that is not defined by externally imposed definitions, but rather by common interest and care for the other. Now that I have gotten a real taste of what it is like to constantly be spending my time with such diverse people, I'm hooked! This is the way life should be lived, and I hope you get to experience it too.