Peter Fairbrother Week #3

Peter Fairbrother
11/23/11
Service Learning Week #3

This past week we went to Shea for our third week of service learning. We worked with the students by talking about different life goals. First we set some long term goals. I was shocked to hear how many of the boys were hoping to make it in the MLB or the NFL. Up until this past week I thought this group of students were more realistic. Not to say that they are stupid I had just gotten the vibe from them that they were more level headed than that.
Next we worked on short term goals. When we discusses these my service learning partners and I all had similar goals and the students were pretty similar as well. My classmates and I all were concerned with finishing our school work. The students had goals that were similar but somewhat darker. Many of them wanted finish assignments so that they would not get in trouble, retake something that they had already failed, or turn in late work. So the drive to do work was present in these children but it seems to only kick in after the work is due or to prevent the student from getting in trouble. I am not sure why so many of these students are so far behind on their work one month into the school year but I wish there was someway to tell and someway to help those who were willing to work towards improving their futures.
There was one last thing that struck me this past week. There was one male student and when we asked him for one goal of the week he said he wanted to get twenty dollars. We asked if he had a job and he said no. We asked if he did chores and he said no. So I was greatly confused as to how he thought he was going to get the money he wanted. When I asked him how he expected to make the money he said “I don’t know I would just like twenty dollars.” This in my mind was related to the dream of becoming a professional athlete. He wanted to make money but had no plan how to make it just hoped it would happen. I do not know what to make of this but at the time of it was very striking to me and I did not know what to say to him about this. It was the first time I have been speechless while at service learning.