Something To Think About

        My volunteering with students at Noble Academy has a been a source of deep satisfaction for me.  That has been especially true the last  years as I have read books with some of  the most advanced students.  But, could there be a dark side to this en-devour?  Re-reading Kao Kalia Yang's marvelous book  A Memoir Of My Father: The Song Poet  has raised a question in my mind.
      "Neither Dwab (Yang's older sister) nor I could talk about the loneliness that grew inside us with every new idea we loved, every new place in the world we wanted to visit. every drink we thirsted for, every dish we yearned to taste beyond our home.  We were supposed to become doctors and lawyers and everyone would celebrate in the end; we didn't know  that we would have to become those things alone."  p. 161    Encouraged by their father to excel through education they found that that education isolated them from their parents who grew up in Laos, survived America's "secret war" and Laotian genocide, escape to a refugee camp in Thailand and eventual settlement in St. Paul.
        My question is this;  Am I, I with my work with these students, inadvertently driving a wedge between student and parent?  Is this inevitable and the necessary con-commitment of education in this context?   Certainly this is something I must contemplate.  Any wisdom on this subject from any (either :) of my readers?

MJV Wrote this thoughtful response to this post.
"As for June 13.  The purpose of public education in a democracy is two-fold:  Assuring an educated and thoughtful voting public (and how have we been doing on that?) and equipping children with the skills and understandings (and some would say ethical standards) that allow them to contribute to society and lead satisfying lives.   Any educational experience "leads children into new worlds" that they don't experience at home.  Certainly that was a theme in "Hillbilly Elegy."  That doesn't necessarily mean rejection of the parent's world, or values.  It just means they are equipped to function in a society that is different from their parent's.   That difference does not necessarily have to be isolating.  So de-guilt yourself."