The Big Read: Opening Doors

May 15th, 2009 2:28 PM UTC
By Emily Stivers

We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Jennifer Pereyda from Fremont, California, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Opening Doors

By Jennifer Pereyda
Fremont, CA

Growing up, I was the kid teachers often referred to as the class “bookworm.” I loved to read and devoured any book I could get my hands on. This love of books even went so far as to include Encyclopedias. I would pick a volume up and read it from cover to cover, baffling family and friends who had difficulty understanding a child that read encyclopedias for fun.

With such an appetite for learning, it is no wonder that I grew up to become a teacher. I hoped to inspire other children to be as enthusiastic about education as I was. However, it soon became apparent that most of my students had things other than school on their minds. Subjects like skateboarding, which girl had a crush on which boy, and what they were going to do with their friends after school took on a far greater importance than math, science, and literature.

For one boy it was different, though. Peter was shouldering burdens that few, if any, of my other students could understand. Peter was homeless and living with his mother in a local shelter after fleeing his abusive father, who fortunately lived in another state. For him, basic survival was a daily issue. Where would he be sleeping tonight? Would he have any food to eat? And when would he get some shoes that fit instead of wearing the pair that pinched his feet constantly? With such concerns as these, it is easy to assume that school would not be a priority for Peter.

However, this was not quite the case. Peter showed up in my class every day, and while he didn’t pay attention to many of the lessons, he did try when he and I worked together one-on-one. Despite his anger over the misfortunes in his life, he greeted me each day with a sunny, “Hi Mrs. P!” and seemed genuinely happy to be at school.

I knew that giving Peter an education would provide him with the tools he needed to have a better life than the one he was currently living. But it was hard for me to figure out a way to make learning more important to him. Then one day, something happened that made me look at Peter in an entirely new light.

Before school, one of my colleagues told me she thought she had seen Peter walking down a busy street miles away from the school. At first, I thought she must be mistaken because Peter was living in a shelter just around the corner. But when class began and Peter still hadn’t shown up, I began to get worried. Attempts to reach his mother by phone were not successful and no one at the local shelter knew where she was.

Two hours later, Peter strolled into class and handed me a tardy slip. When I asked him privately what had happened, he explained that he had to move to another shelter across town, and since his mom didn’t have a car, he had to walk to school. Not many 11-year-old American children would walk for more than two hours to get to school! I asked him if there was a school closer to the shelter that he could attend so that he wouldn’t have to walk so far and he said, in a bit of a panic, “But I don’t want to go to another school!”

It was then I realized that for Peter, school is not just about science, math and reading. For him, school is about stability. It gives him a safe place to return to when everything else in his life is chaotic. It provides adults who believe in him and want something better for his future. As his teacher, it is not just my job to educate Peter in the core curriculum. More importantly, it is my job to help him explore his talents and teach him that despite his current hardships, it is possible for him to achieve his dreams.

For Peter and many other children in the world who live in poverty, schools offer a foundation upon which they can build a better life. By allowing them to have a place where they aren’t weighed down with the burdens of daily survival, we are giving them the opportunity to discover ideas they might not have come into contact with otherwise. That is what education is all about: opening minds and opening doors.

TAGS: Big Read