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was American Government, and this was his third time trying to take it, and the other instructor informed me, upon discovering the kid was now in my class, that he was a gangbanger and just not worth the time. "He'll fail out like usual. Don't take it seriously." Those were his words of wisdom.

During the semester, I noticed that he never answered any questions, and the first test he tanked horribly. He came up to me after class one day and asked, "what can I do to get a better grade?" This was one of those phrases a teacher hears and realizes that when someone didn't put forth the effort in the beginning, somehow they think they're going to be able to do something great at the end and fix it all. And usually, they end up doing the same thing for the rest of the course, so you end up wasting time on them.

So, I said for him to come see me during my office hours, and we'd discuss it. I figured I'd never see him again, other than as his quiet self in class, so I chalked it up to just one of those things. And then he showed up at my office hours.

So, I talked to him, and I decided I'd devote my office hours to seeing what he was missing from the text. We were discussing bill to law processing at that time, and it was then that I realized his problem wasn't in understanding the bill to law material. He didn't know what Congress was. The very basic information that were covering in class was completely absent from his knowledge base. As I went through and asked him more questions, I realized that years of education had escaped him. Now, this is where most teachers would give up, and just say, "lazy student", but I was angry. And I was angry at the other teachers who let him continue through our educational system without ever once trying to figure out if he learned anything from it.

So, I started to dedicate my office hours to this one student. No one else ever came into my office hours, aside from a stray student with a quick question, so it wasn't like it was taking up more time than it should have. And other teachers kept saying I was wasting my time. But I felt that the whole educational system had failed this kid, so I thought I owed him at least that much.

We did this for two semesters, and he actually started getting Bs on his tests (in both my classes and others he was taking; I was starting to tutor him on some of his other subjects as well). At the end of the year, he was a much better student than he had ever been before, and he was now more interested in learning than he had ever been. Meanwhile, he was still living in a very hostile environment surrounded by a gang life that he was trying so hard to put behind him and avoid.

I ended up leaving that school at the end of that year and going back to school, so I never really did find out what happened to him after. I would like to think that another teacher gave him another step up, and he continued learning, but I worry that such a thing may not have happened.

I have always felt that college should be accessible to everyone, and we should do everything possible to make sure that everyone has a chance to excel. Otherwise, our reason for being teachers is useless and somewhat dishonest.

I look back on my own childhood and feel very fortunate there was someone there who actually cared. How many others have we missed because there was no one there at the right time, willing to do just a little more to make sure that everyone else got the same chance we did?

Learn more about this author, Duane Gundrum.
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