Assumptions

By Jarely Cabading

Some students end their day at 3:15PM, when school ends. But there are students that don’t end their day until the very end of the night. Kids want to help their parents out with bills that they have to pay for the house and would want them to be happy instead of stressing.

Yerba Buena High School students Alexis Hernandez and Omar Hernandez both go through situations where they have to deal with both school work and their jobs.

Teachers often assign a ton of homework knowing that each student has other assignments with their other classes, yet teachers still expect it to be turned in the next time they see them. The teacher can easily make assumptions on certain types of students, however most teachers are not like that.

Ms Reissig, a US History teacher at Yerba Buena High School, knows what students have to deal with and supports them. “I am aware many students have other responsibilities outside of school. I was just like them back then when I was a student.”

Ms.Reissig accepts late work, she is not the type to ask for assignments right away, but she still expects it to be done in order to move on to the next worksheet. “I do accept late work. I try to get my students to turn in work by the end of the grading period, I don’t like seeing zero’s in my grade book.”

She is the type of teacher most students would want. Omar and Alexis need the teacher that can give their best support when they need help or when they don’t turn in any work on time.

Omar and Alexis are Yerba Buena students. They both work for their families to help with all the bills they have to pay. “I work to help out my family because my dad is the only one in the house who works nonstop with no days off,” Omar said.

Omar is currently lacking on his sleeping schedule. Right when school ends he goes to work right after and gets off really late, around two or three in the morning. He rarely has any time to finish any homework. He says “When I get home I’m super tired so I just fall asleep.”

He currently feels like homework shouldn’t exist. “I feel like it’s a waste of time, classwork is already enough work, I could be doing other things that would help my family,” Omar expresses.

Alexis is currently working for both himself and his parents. He works for a reason, he doesn’t like asking his parents for money. “I work for myself so that I can pay for everything I want instead of having to ask my parents for money and I can give them money to help them pay for the bills,” Alexis explained.

Alexis also babysits his two younger siblings while his parents are out or working. The price of babysitting gets higher by the years and at the moment, his parents can’t afford a babysitter.

He currently feels stressed having to balance school and his job at the same time. Alexis says “Six out of ten I feel stressed, it’s hard having to deal with school and then work right after. I feel like I need some sleep.”

Teachers want to assume that the students who dress like gangsters are bad kids who don’t care about school, wanting to start problems. Alexis was told “Pull up your pants. Do you not care? Just take the zero then,” by teachers.

Ms. Reissig is not that kind of teacher. She gives her best support to any student. “Regardless of how they look I will go to them and find out if they need help or if something is wrong,” Reissig says.

People assume Alexis won't do school work based on his looks and attitude. He comes to class tired, not getting enough sleep, with no assignments finished. Teachers either tell him “don’t be absent or they don’t really tell me anything, they would just mark it zero” reports Alexis.

Teachers usually don’t know what students have to go through at home or outside school campus. There are many reasons why students act up in any way they are acting. They could be stressed from all the school work and having to deal with their job at the same time, family problems at home, or just not enough support from a teacher or anyone.