I think that what frustrates me most about service is how things don't click easily for my learner, Sonia. What we usually work on is math, and for me I understand very easily. So teaching someone how to do the order of operations and them not understanding how to do it is frustrating. We worked on the order of operations for a very long time, I told her step by step how to complete the problem, and we did practice problems for five weeks. When we got back after break she forgot everything we did. I know that it isn't completely her fault that she forgot everything. She did have a stroke last year and it damaged her memory extensively. If I could change anything, I would change the fact that Sonia had a stroke. If she didn't have that stroke, she wouldn't have had to go on medical leave and she'd still have her job. I can't change that, but I will do everything I can to help her regain as much as she can.
Other than this I think what frustrates me even more is how many people are constantly coming in an out of the CFL. I think it is great that many adults have made the decision to get their education and that there are many volunteers willing to help, but the fact that there are this many people that need help is a shame. Our country and the school system plays a huge role in the fact that these people didn't go through school the normal way. The school system never looked out for people who had a learning disability, they just shoved these people into a special ed class and called it a day. This is a disgrace, the system is the reason that many of them fell so far behind that they didn't even know which way to go.
I would love to change all of these peoples' pasts and give them the live that they should've had, but I can't. Instead I'm doing something about it by helping at the CFL through this class and I'm working to get a degree in education. I want to go into special education, I want to help those students who otherwise would have fallen through the cracks if they were born just sixty years ago. I want to make it so that there are no children have to go to the CFL or a place the CFL when they grow up. I know that this is an ambitious dream, but if I can reduce the number of people who need to go to the CFL in the future I'll be happy.
