Final Service Learning Reflection #3

My favorite book of the class was the Jonathan Kozol book, “Savage Inequalities”. Growing up in Northern Michigan, where the entire population is similar on almost all accounts (race, ethnicity, socially and economically) and where there was only one high school for the entire rural area, I felt as though my eyes were opened to the inequalities that are here within America. I have been privileged to travel to third world countries and I really believe that in our efforts to better the other parts of the world we tend to overlook the people that are our neighbors and fellow Americans. This was particularly seen in my tutor sessions. I spent a summer in Thailand teaching English and then came back to America and failed to even consider the people that are living here in Nashville, in my neighborhoods, which can not even read and write.

At the time when we as a class had read Kozol’s book I had not yet had any of my sessions at the NALC. Initially, I felt like these situations that Kozal described in his book were isolated situations. As I mentioned above, I feel like I ignorance and isolation in this area growing up. However, after leaving the NALC for the first time, I felt like Kozal’s book came to life. My first two students were not international students, they were individuals who had been failed along the educational system at some point and were left to fend for themselves to learn. They were the students that Kozal described in his book- just with different names and from different cities.

Together, these experiences with Kozal’s book and with the NALC, I feel like I have been able to think outside of my white, educated, lifestyle, one which has been fairly easy in comparison to many. To be honest, it makes me feel sick to think about how selfish I can be and how often I feel entitled to get my education. I have been challenged to remember that my education and abilities to read and write are an incredible blessing and that many around me, including here in my neighborhood and community, have not had that opportunity.

Therefore, it would seem that my experiences this semester at the NALC have reinforced the idea that there are intense divisions and inequalities within America, which is what is seen in Kozol’s book. It’s a challenge to come to a point where you realize this perspective. For me, I wonder what I am suppose to do about these inequalities. For Kozol, it seems like he felt like he needed to bring these inequalities into the light. I am still discovering what my role in these challenges are- perhaps it starts with me becoming aware, which is what I feel like this book, class, and experiences at the NALC this semester have done.