When I was working in the inner city, I noticed that the kids were rarely unaware that they had less than other kids. When we went on field trips, they would ask me, "Is this where the rich people live? These house look like rich people houses." They would often point out that white people in the grocery stores buy more food than their family was able to, and that other people didn't have to live where there was shooting most nights. As I've been doing private tutoring, I have obviously been working with many students whose families are much better off financially than my former students' families. One of the interesting things to me is that many of them are not aware how fortunate they are. At one point, a student who goes to a prestigious private elementary school asked me if I tutored any of my former students. When I said no, she asked me why. I simply said that most of them couldn't afford tutoring - didn't explain further. She looked at me f
Author of Literally Unbelievable: Stories of an East Oakland Classroom