Excuses, excuses

There's something I always remind my students: I was once one of them and I used excuses in my everyday school life. Case in point: months have passed since my last post and I have a zillion of good excuses. Are they good? We'll see...

Things are still a little crazy after September's enrollment season with having to organize everything, from the Curriculum to the schedule and the last details before the beginning of the school year. The fact that my mother broke her arm didn't help either... God bless her though, she has been one of the best patients ever! Does she have a good excuse to complain? Yes, of course she does.

My students and I still struggle to get used to our daily routine between home and school, however I know for a fact that we'll be just fine in about a week's time. We are just waiting for the weather to change and it has changed since yesterday. Do we have a good excuse to whine and say that it's still early and we still have to "adjust" to some things? Naaah, I don't know about it...

Everything's changing around us, day by day. Some see a gloomy world, others are indefferent and have a more fatalistic view of the current situation in Greece at the moment. One thing is for sure though; no one is optimistic.
What can you say to a child about all this? To a teenager who doesn't get the same amount of pocket money, or even no pocket money at all? How can you explain to them that their parents are the ones that really struggle every single day to get by. What to you say to one of your former students, whose parents don't earn enough to enroll him to my school, just because they both lost their jobs and they cannot find new ones. When people don't have the means to put food on the table every day, they won't send their kid to my school or to any other school for that matter. Do they have a good excuse? Yes, of course they do.

What is a good excuse for public schools not having books? The Recession? Perhaps, the world's financial crisis is a better one? A country proud of its heritage, but so uncertain for the future. A country which does not offer the right to free education to its children, to its citizens. So, do I have a good excuse to refuse help and reject them when some of my students ask me to help them also with some other subjects at public school, find some websites for them to practice and let them use the school's computers. I definitely have run out of excuses. I always try to follow my wise father's piece of advice. "Do whatever you can for yourself and for others, and don't expect anything in return. You'll be a happy woman." No more excuses...