Education and Lack of Empathy in the USA

TW: mentions of SA and abuse. 

I got my degree in education because I want to be there for the kids who have no one else. I know various signs of child abuse; SA, neglect, psychological manipulation... and I see it every day. My kids come to school and they stink, they wear the same clothes, they're growing increasingly thin, they fall asleep at their desks. Each of those things are responses, whether conscious or not, to abuse at home. These kids need school; it's where I and other educators like myself can see these signs and support them. This country is actively removing the funding and resources to that make this possible. 

Schools provide them with food, shelter, and sometimes just a place to sleep. If a student comes into my classroom and falls asleep, I don't wake them up; an alarming parentage of the time, they didn't sleep the night before because they had to stay alert to protect themselves from their pedo dad or strangers on the street because they are experiencing homelessness. The lack of funding for public education in the US is sickening. There is not enough money set aside for schools to provide the resources needed to hire and maintain the employment of GOOD teachers, to both provide free lunch for kids AND remove mold from the school's ceilings. We need schools to raise these kids because parents are not. We need the funding to do so. Schools are such a key aspect in the development of the coming generations. If you don't see how many kids in the US are struggling in these ways, wake up bro

 And still, schools continue to fail students... but school is all MANY students have. I just can't believe the lack of empathy in this country. 

If you go to school and the kid next to you smells bad, don't make fun of them to your friends. Understand that it is a, conscious or not, response to SA a good amount of the time. Kids will often avoid self care in an attempt to keep their abuser away from them. Have some sympathy for each other. 

And no, I'm not sitting here thinking I am the best educator in the world. I have room to grow and things to learn. I am simply aware of things and I feel that we are failing kids and each other on so many levels. I don't know everything (if anything) that my students are going through. I don't know who attempted suicide the night before and came to school like nothing happened, I don't know who will go home to find that their sibling overdosed, I don't know who is struggling with what a majority of the time. But I always keep that in mind. Most educators seem to forget...