A Pedagogical Shift

An anonymous comment on my last post reads, "From a typical idealist leftist to a capitalist in a matter of months?!? Where is your conviction!!??!! Say it ain't so, Matt!!!!!! ".

Cheers to your keen eye and quick wit! Now, please allow me to explain...
I met John Olquist in 2007 when I began teaching at Saint Kevins. He organized a mentoring program that encouraged high school students involved in a parish in Sudbury to travel into Dorchester to meet students grades K-8. He worked diligently to set up transportation to and from Uphams Corner and accompanied the mentors twice a week. The mentors always came with enthusiasm toward their work and a respect for the children they were helping. The kids at Saint Kevins loved the volunteeres and they looked forward to the days when they'd come to visit. John would spend his time playing basketball or teaching math. Once summer came, I also found out that John took responsibility of  organizing a summer enrichment program that ran for 5 weeks over the vacation. Again it was a partnership with the community of Sudbury, but was a lot more intensive than the mentor program. He organized field trips, donations, lunches, and gifts for all the underprivileged city kids at the end of the summer. He even opened the doors to his summer home on the Rhode Island coastline to the older children for an overnight trip at the end of the summer. He was an astonishingly positive and generous man that I gained a great respect for while I was working in the Catholic Schools. I actually spent the last 3 summers leading a group and absolutely loved the environment that he created. I am no longer involved in the program but it still runs today.

Now, let's go back a few years. John grew up as a humble city kid in Brooklyn. He came from solid roots and was provided a good education. He went on to get a business degree from Bentley College and worked for the corporate machine for a number of years. He made money, started a family, and eventually grew tired of the corporate world. He decided that he wanted out, and tried his hand at teaching. He spent exactly one year teaching in a public school in Framingham. The experience was enough for him to realize teaching was not for him, and that the politics of working for a school were not much different than the office.He grew a tremendous respect for teaching, but didn't want to rely on it as his career. He opted out, went back to the corporate world, and tasted some good fortune with his endeavors in the stock market. A few years later he started his own financial planning LLC in Sudbury, continued to support his family, and had enough spare time to help out in Dorchester. He realized after working as a public servant that in order to help out, you need to approach it a calculated way. What took him 1 year to understand took me 3. I am far too deep into debt not to spend some time playing a capitalist. If I want to really help the community I grew to love, I first need to take care of myself financially. The three years I spent teaching were a fantastic experience I would never take back, but the stress caused by the work was not worth the small return on such a large investment of time and energy.

So, to sum things up. Yes, I may currently employed as a capitalist, but I am certainly proud of what I'm doing.  I have not lost my ideals, I simply took a more calculated approach. It would be irresponsible not to...