Most every Thursday during the school year I spend two hours at St. Andrew Nativity School tutoring middle school students. I always go thinking that I could get a lot of "my own" writing and reading done with that time. I always leave happy that I came.
I like tutoring at St. Andrew for two reasons.
First, it is an amazing school. The teachers are very committed to the students and have very high standards (in every respect) for them. The students are from relatively low-income families and seem uniformly pleased to be at such a fine school. They tend to work very hard and to take their studies very seriously. It is a good place to be.
Second, I can tell that the students value my presence. I am not a great tutor, and some days I do not even approach average. Despite having written six books, am often confused by rules of grammar and terms like "subordinate clause." I do not always understand the steps that the students are expected to take in math. Many of them know Catholic theology better than I do. Sometimes the students have to explain the assignments to me. But I can tell that my being there means something to them, in part because I insist on telling them the same thing that I try to tell my university students and my son: this is hard, but you can do it. I think that they can tell that I respect them and care about them.
Much of life is complicated. It is not always clear what the best, the ethical, the loving and wise thing to do is. But it is very seldom a bad idea to spend time trying to help a child. I strongly believe that this is one of our main reasons for existing.
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