He was born to a father who was just thirteen. Though she was terrified, she ran away from home in the middle of the night when she was only five years old because her mother and father fought a lot and she felt as though she was to blame. His mother beat him so severely he bled because his chores were not done to her satisfaction. Her brother was murdered in Evansville, Indiana just one day after returning from Hopkinsville, where he had come back for a family visit. Her mother chose drugs over her children and she went to live with her dad when she was eight. These are just a few of the reasons I love my job.
If that doesn’t make sense, allow me to explain. I am a writing tutor, and these are just a few of the topics my students choose to write about. Of course, an assignment was given in their English class that prompted them to recall these particular instances, but nevertheless, the life experiences of these students–spilled out on paper in vivid, and sometimes graphic, detail–are what I have to work with. In fact, these topics are a just a few of many that crossed my desk only yesterday.
According to motivational speaker extraordinaire Anthony Robbins, there are six human needs: stability; variety; a sense of belonging; individuality; growth; and contribution. When all six of these are present in any one situation–one’s relationship with a family member, friend, or significant other, one’s job, one’s hobby, and anything, really–Robbins’ calls it a “Class A experience.” I call it “happiness.”
This is why I love what I do. My position is stable, insofar as any job is these days. There is a tremendous amount of variety in the subject matter which comes my way. The community college family is extremely supportive of its members, whether it be a balloon bouquet on a hiring anniversary or a mass e-mail “atta boy” extolling someone’s accomplishment. My tutoring style is unique because I refer to the students as “writers” which somehow instills a great deal of confidence in them which had been absent beforehand. I grow, sometimes reluctantly, mainly because of the technology (software) involved. And I certainly feel that I contribute.
That my students trust me enough to read the details of their life humbles me. I know how difficult it is to write, particularly when the subject matter is sorrowful. And because it our writing center’s protocol to read a student’s work aloud while tutoring (oftentimes the writer will notice his or her own edits when hearing their words), I know that a great amount of trust needs to be in place.
It can be difficult to separate my heart from my brain and concentrate on syntax and grammar when the topic is heartbreaking. But it is my job to help a writer get his ideas across logically and tell his story, no matter the subject. So my student and I plod through the essay, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, until the story is told clearly and all of the requirements of the assignment have been fulfilled.
By the time we are through, the writer/student is relieved that the assignment is finished and confident that at least a satisfactory grade will be received. I, on the other hand, am emotionally spent. I laugh when I recall another college writing tutor I recently met who described the job as being like that of a bartender without the alcohol. It’s all in a day’s work. That’s my job. That’s what I do.