[nabs-l] Tutoring, and College Success

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,
First, I'd like to share a few thoughts on the other side of the
tutoring desk. I have been a part-time tutor for the athletic
department at my school for the past year and a half. I originally
signed up for the job to make a little extra cash, but now that my
expenses have gone down substantially (living with my boyfriend helps,
:)! the primary reason I keep tutoring is for the joy of being able to
help students succeed. Most of my students are freshman athletes who
are required by the university to have subject tutors, so there is no
stigma associated with having tutors for them. If you go to a tutoring
center, everyone there will be working with tutors and so you won't
stand out. I know athletes are stereotypically supposed to not be that
smart. Based on my experience with a dozen or so students, they vary
in their grasp of the subject matter, but most are motivated and
serious about their studying. It is really nice to work with students
who are motivated and the best thing is to have a student who is
struggling or has weak study skills at the beginning of the semester
and to watch them get better over time. I don't think anyone should
worry about being judged or laughed at by a professional tutor at your
school, and if they are rude or impatient with you, they probably
shouldn't be in that job and you have a right to complain.
I think it would be great if NABS set up a volunteer tutoring service
where advanced blind students could offer free tutoring to other blind
students in their subject area, i.e. an English major could tutor
someone in freshman English. My offer still stands to tutor any of you
in psychology or statistics for free over the phone or to look over
papers or provide general research advice.
And, to Beth and Desiree: I don't know much about your career goals,
but it might be good to sit down and think about what your abstract
goals are for what you want to do with your life, and then figure out
if a college degree would help make those goals happen. These goals
could be something as general as "earn enough to get off SSI" or as
specific as "make a lasting positive impression on the education of
blind children in this country". If it would, then please don't let
fears about "what-ifs" stop you from getting one. Keep the long-range
goals in mind throughout the process, and if you fail or come upon
some obstacles, think about what you can do differently to clear them
out of your way.
Desiree, what happened to you during your elementary education sounds
awful and unacceptable. A blind child's right to use a Brailler in
class should never be determined by other kids' preferences. However,
I truly believe that you can recover from these early setbacks with
hard work and determination, if the prize--your ultimate life goal--is
something you want badly enough. I hope you will continue to dialogue
with us blind students as I have found that the support of other blind
folk is one of the best defenses against the negative attitudes of the
sighted public. I am happy to talk off-list about any specific issues.
Beth: If your long-term goal involve college, and it sounds like it
does, then think hard about what went wrong before, and how these
things can be changed. You mentioned difficulties with research; we
can give you resources and suggestions to help you deal with these
issues. If it's bipolar stuff, can you find a different doctor, or try
a different combination of meds, to mitigate the problems you were
having before?
Best,
Arielle