Expected value

The opinions expressed are not representative of City Year or AmeriCorps as organizations

I saw J sitting alone in the cafeteria, silently looking softly at the room with a gaze that was neither engaged nor disengaged. He sat. I approached him, introduced myself, and asked for his name. He looked up and smiled at me. A genuine smile. They had warned us about the students that will be challenging, but hadn't really prepared us for this. Smiles. He told me his name, and then asked what he was supposed to be doing. As if I knew. The carefully planned schedule for the day had fallen apart roughly 20 minutes in, and as far as I could tell, the adults in the school were as confused as the students about who was supposed to be where and what they were meant to be doing. He'd already gotten his student ID and had been in the auditorium learn about the administrations and logistics, so the only other activity he had to complete was a school tour, which I found out would be starting 30 minutes later. And so, we chatted.

J has three siblings, an older brother and two younger siblings. I didn't get a chance to hear about the younger ones. His older brother has been in prison for the past 6 months, and has roughly 5 more years. J misses him. He didn't tell me why his brother was imprisoned, and I didn't ask. J told me he doesn't like school. He said he wants to have a business when he grows up. He wouldn't say what kind, but suggested that going to school and getting a job was a lot of work, and didn't offer very lucrative gains. He suggested that there might be alternative routes to take. I said that regardless of the route he chooses, there are many useful skills to learn in school, such as math. He said he doesn't need school for math, telling me that he sometimes teaches himself math when he's bored. I asked him if I could teach him something in math. He looked at me, smiled, and said "sure." 

"Ok, so going to school, getting a job, let's call that Path A. And the alternative? What is the alternative?" 

"I can't say it in here, we're in a school. Let's just call it Path B". 

We proceeded to discuss the concept of expected value, inventing hypothetical probabilities for graduating, getting into college, having a career, or going to prison, as well as predicted incomes for the different paths. The school tour began before we were able to calculate the options, but I told him I hope to see him in school when it starts (two weeks from now) and that we'd continue our conversation and lesson. He smiled. 

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A and L timidly followed six other soon-to-be 9th graders into the science classroom. They whispered rapidly to each other. I had met them earlier in the morning, when I attempted to convey to them that I knew very little Spanish, but would try my best to understand them, using hand gestures, (what I hoped were) cognates, and google translate when the WiFi was cooperating. 

They sat next to each other at a nearby table, and, after a round of introductions from the adults in the room, I settled in next to them. 

The teacher described the various science classes offered at the school, going into some detail about requirements and such. 

I turned to the girls, sitting silently, wide-eyed. Observing everything and absorbing almost nothing. A and L had come to the US from Guatemala and Mexico, respectively. They've been here for one month. "Esta.. clase... ciencias" I trailed off. The teacher had already begun to explain the experiment that we were going to do, and I could either pay attention so I could help them with it, or I could try to communicate complex sentences with no language. I chose the former. The experiment was meant to encourage them to think about physics. Specifically, they were supposed to advance at varying paces and drop a package and see how far it landed from where they dropped it. Each pair was to run the experiment at three different speeds, three times each, and then combine the data and analyze it as a class. 

The teacher explained that each pair would calculate and report the averages for each speed. He asked if anyone knew how to calculate averages. I turned to A and L. "Average" I said. "Do you know what that means?" They shook their heads. "Like, middle of all the numbers. Medio..?" 

"Oh!" L's eyes sparkled. "Sí!" She began to scribble on the sheet of paper, adding and dividing the practice numbers the teacher had on the board. He had already asked for the answer, and someone gave it. A and L ran their experiment, deftly marking and calculating the numbers and making notes in the appropriate spots. As I watched and helped them say the numbers in English when asked to report back to the class, it struck me that their experience in school is going to be a constant struggle. They are extremely intelligent and engaged, but they don't know the language. Their contributions are not valued. Later I was reassured that there will be bilingual classrooms, but I don't know if that will be enough, whether it will truly give them the same opportunities their peers have. 

We moved on, as a group, to the math classroom, where the teacher explained all about math credits. I took careful notes. Hopefully, their ESL teacher will explain everything to them, but just in case. Then they did "coding," using games to learn about the concepts of commands and loops. I tried explaining to them, but didn't have the vocabulary. Eventually they got it though. And became really excited. As did I.

From there we went to the library, where they had a discussion about transitions and the emotional challenges they create. There was a person there who knew Spanish, and translated the general gist of what was being said. I was relieved. A teacher passed around a handout. This time the WiFi cooperated. I carefully entered in the phrases, one at a time, and wrote down the Spanish translation. It just wasn't fair, that the other students got a handout with words that were meant to help them make sense of their experience, and A and L got senseless markings on a sheet of paper. 

At the end of the session I asked the teacher who knew Spanish if the girls would have a translator tomorrow. He said he'd look into it and do his best to find someone. The girls came up to me, one at a time, and hugged me. "Thank you," they said, smiling. I smiled.