Do you get food stamps, Miss?

Reflections from the front line of urban education

I avoid talking about my religion, politics, or much of anything else personal with the kids. It’s highly inappropriate and unprofessional, and I will not be like those AFT and NEA people who use the public schools as a venue to capture captive kids into an ideology. Besides, I don’t want the kids to know my personal business. At all. Ever.

A few weeks ago some kids asked me if I have a “guy I’m talking to.” I said that I talked to many men on a daily basis - how could I do my job if not? Having totally deflected the question, I got them interested in a new vocabulary word - probably “disingenuous” - and on we moved.

Yesterday a ninth grade girl asked me if I get food stamps.

“That’s a rather personal question, dear,” I replied.

She went on to say that her grandma gets food stamps, and that they went to the corner store and her grandmother bought her a big sandwich with the food stamps. She loved that sandwich. The degree to which the kid loved the sandwich made me wonder what she eats on a regular basis. The students show up to school with plastic bags (they are banned in the city but the corner stores give them out anyway) full of Doritos, Takis, cookies and candies. It’s not unusual to see kids eating Hot Fries for breakfast with a pineapple soda.

During the time leading up to the government shutdown when food stamps were delayed, I heard a lot in various schools from the kids about SNAP. Most of their families are on it, it seems. This is not surprising - the area is very poor, and what work is done I suspect is largely under the table. The EBT cards are accepted at corner stores that sell little more than junk food at very high prices, and the cycle continues.

Years ago when I was working on the PhD I realized I didn’t want, we were reading Evicted in a class on the social determinants of health. It’s a great book, by Matthew Desmond, and it tells the story of the perverse incentives that exist in the American black city that make sure that everyone stays poor.

One of the kids who was working on her MPH (they were mostly fresh out of college when I was about 45) asked, “What do food stamps look like? Are they real stamps?”

I got out my EBT card and passed it around. The young people working on their masters degrees were quite shocked that a PhD student who was after all white and seemed pretty put together would have an EBT card. Medicaid too! I wowed them with both cards!

The kid in my class on Friday would not have been surprised if I said I got food stamps and would not have been surprised if I said I didn’t. There is no shame about being on government assistance in the world where I work. I’m not saying there should be. I am a big fan of the social safety net, and am pleased that my tax dollars support it. But it should not be a way of life, generation to generation.

Work has gone out of style. Tik Tok encourages young people to think they can make a living off of recording videos of their little dances. Fortunately, some of my students have not fallen for this. We did a career reflection the other day in my tenth grade class, and one of the kids shared with me that he wants to be an English teacher.

Way to make a teacher cry! I didn’t cry, but I did tell him to chat with the principal, who was a 7th and 8th grade English teacher and then a literacy coach. There has never been more of a need, well not since the Civil War, for people to teach these kids how to read and write.

Why?

So they don’t end up on food stamps.

Now I’m about as literate as they come (though many of my friends are more well-read!) but I’ve been on Medicaid and SNAP. A series of health issues, bad decisions and bad luck (mostly health and bad decisions - I don’t attribute much to luck, and to the extent I’ve had it, it’s been good) and I ended up on SNAP. It is tremendously helpful to have some money to buy groceries, especially if you know how to maximize it by bargain shopping, and you can get to a real grocery store, not the corner store. Many of these kids’ families can not get to a real grocery store.

The safety net is great for keeping people from disappearing into permanent poverty and homelessness. I am thankful for it. But getting into your head, generation after generation, that it’s the government’s job to pay for your groceries, at the risk of stating the obvious, creates dependency. Is that what you would want for your children?

Some teachers don’t like to look at education as a means to getting a job. They like to think that learning in itself is a reward, and if it were, that would be just peachy.

(Like this protein shake. I recommend Premier Protein brand shake. The Cafe Latte is my current breakfast, combined with a little coffee. 30 grams of protein and just 160 calories, and it’s drinkable! Your product placement will end now.)

For these kids, getting a job would be a very good outcome. Becoming employable, so that they can support their own families and live without being dependent on government assistance. There is dignity and value in working for a living - at least some of us still think so.

All over every school I’ve been in, there is a quote that is just as true for grown ups as it is for the kids:

The choices you make today create your world tomorrow.

Every day we have so many choices that create our tomorrow. When I drink my protein shake, I’m putting some metaphorical coins in the bank of my future health. When I go to work every day, I choose to find value in a good day’s work for a fair day’s pay, no matter how I might feel during the day.

I remember a time when I didn’t feel this way. I dreaded going back to subbing. There is much to dread - the long hours without being able to go to the bathroom (you can’t leave the kids in the room alone and in the regular district there usually isn’t someone to cover) and just the horror of getting treated like a subhuman by kids. But then I found my school, and while it is a difficult job, there are so many daily rewards.

When the kid who wanted to be an English teacher found out that I am a real teacher, he said, “Ms. Smith, why are you just a sub!?”

“A long story, my dear, a long story.”

He said he wants me to teach there, 11th grade so he can have me as a teacher next year.

“I’m working on that sweetie,” I said.

Meanwhile, it’s farmers’ market day, and I have an egg carton to return to the Lancaster farmer and some veggies to buy.

The choices we make today create our world tomorrow. I choose not to focus on the bad. I choose to enjoy the beautiful day, the flowers, the farmers’ market, the cute farmer (can’t hurt to look!), talking to my best friend, cooking dinner for another good friend tonight, Caturday pet pets, and looking forward to taking my mom to lunch for her 81st birthday tomorrow!

We wish you a Happy Caturday!

This is Loviefluffy when she heard a helicopter overhead. She will defend the home front while I am at work!