What can the community do for struggling students?
Just as education budgets are getting cut, students' economic needs seem to be growing. Are there ways we as a community can step in to help?
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School administrators have a lot to deal with this fall - they’ve got to find a way to improve academic standards while dealing with tighter budgets. The economic recession is taking a toll on the classroom, but for some students, it’s affected their home lives as well. The number of homeless students in the Bay Area last year was more than 17,000. That’s a 60 percent increase over the previous year.
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It would be wonderful if there was a monthly BART/MUNI pass that offered student discounts. As it is now, there are discounts for students under 18, for seniors, and for people with disabilities, but there has yet to be one for undergrads and grad students. The MUNI pass fare recently increased from $45 to $55 a month, which is a significant difference for Bay Area commuters who want an environmentally friendly way to get to school.
As far as other community resources go, it seems like time and space are two precious commodities in the Bay Area. Many student organizations need help finding resources to fund new projects or raise awareness for their cause. For events, maybe local schools could network with local venues, cafes, bars, and neighborhood centers to support their efforts.
I think that we can solve a lot of our problems on several levels if we were more engaged in volunteerism. California schools, undergoing severe budget cuts, have been forced to increase class sizes and make due with outdated facilities and materials. While these may be seen as necessary measures (or political ones,) the bottom line is it makes education tougher for the students, teachers and administrators.
Before I started working full-time with KALW News, I volunteered as a tutor at Sunset Youth Services, which gives teenagers after-school opportunities in a supportive environment. As a quick tangent, SYS is an incredible place, filled with very generous people and plenty of high-energy kids. It's a crucial community hub, distributing food to families in need, and promoting interactivity through street-side barbecues and other social events. And SYS, which is on a great block of San Francisco's Judah Street, between a long-standing cooperative market and a new burrito joint, enhances the neighborhoods diversity, both by ethnicity, and by the age of the people hanging out.
I looked forward to all my volunteer shifts, knowing how much it would add to my life to get to know young people from all over the city, and to spend time helping other people who were giving so much of themselves for the greater good. That volunteer work then ripples throughout communities, offloading teachers and parents who are handling situations that seem increasingly challenging.
Though I work full-time, I still volunteer as much as I can - formally, with my kids' school and with extra shifts at the station... and informally, bringing a trash bag around with me while walking with my family to pick up litter on Ocean Beach and in Golden Gate Park. And whenever I do, it makes me feel like I'm making a difference, in my own way.
And I have been encouraged by the emphasis our most recent Presidents have put on volunteering. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Presidents George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama came together to discuss the importance of serving others. Despite the apparent dysfunction of politics almost everywhere, and particularly in California, it's reassuring to find party leaders coming together. If everyone would take that message to heart, and put it to work, I think we'd be able to overcome many of the difficulties we find so daunting, these days.