Dave Eggers’ TED talk, Once Upon a School, talked about the benefits of one-on-one tutoring and how it affects students. He said that 35-40 hours of one-on-one tutoring a year can raise a student’s grade by one level. Although it may increase student’s grades, it also helps them become motivated toward school and gives them the mentality that they can accomplish anything. Dave Eggers’ TED talk told a story of how his tutoring program became successful. He talked about moving to San Francisco to create the project 826 Valencia. Eggers shared the conflicts that occurred, such as not having any students show up for months. He wanted to show that his program did not go exactly as planned. Egger’s style really focused on lending his heart to the audience to show how compassionate he was for the students and telling the world that one-on-one tutoring allows the students to succeed in school and in life. Eggers also took a humorous approach to his topic, especially when he described the superhero and pirate supply stores. In order to start project 826 Valencia, the landlord said they had to sell retail along with McSweeney’s (his publishing company), which is where the pirate and superhero supplies came from. He described the superhero store as, “A Costco for superheroes,” and “So then you have the villain containment unit, where kids put their parents.” The audience liked his humor, it added a different mood and showed his sympathy for his job. What made people feel sympathetic to his program, was the photos of the students working. It showed the audience that the students were focused and motivated toward their school work. The ending added something I hadn’t seen a presenter do; he made a wish, “I wish that you -- you personally and every creative individual and organization you know -- will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within a year we have a thousand examples -- a thousand! -- of transformative partnerships.” The wish represents Eggers desire to expand his tutoring program; he wants people to know that his objective is changing students that enter the doors of 826 around the country.
Because of the motivation that 826 National gave students, they had the mentality that they can achieve anything they set their mind to. One student in Brooklyn, nine year old Khaled Hamdan, came in because he was addicted to TV and video games and couldn’t focus at home. After he started being tutored, he became addicted to finishing his homework early and writing books. He wrote books about superheroes, Penguin Balboa is about a fighter penguin and Super Has-Beens about failed superheroes. He even read a book aloud at the Symphony Space in front of 500 people, at a benefit for 826 New York. He comes to tutoring everyday and even brings his cousins, adding three more to the family tally. In San Francisco, a high school teacher asked the tutors of 826 Valencia to come in to her high school class and present the topic for a book they will be writing called How to Achieve Peace in a Violent World with publishing by Isabelle Illende. Because of the motivation to get their book published, the students worked harder than they had ever worked in their lives before. With their own motivation and the help of the 170 tutors, their book was huge success, in fact it can be found anywhere. They even wrote a couple more books, the second one was sponsored by Amy Tan.
Eggers’ moral of the story concludes that a different approach can bring different results. Because the tutoring facility was built into the publishing company and the pirate supply store, it gave students a new attitude about learning. Some of the publishing company’s employees did their work shoulder to shoulder with the students to motivate them to act like adults and take an interest in their work.
In Eighth Grade, I was in National Junior Honors Society and one of my projects was tutoring. In the couple hours I tutored, I felt like I was helping the students and making it worthwhile for them to come. One kid came to me and asked me if I could help organize his papers. It was ironic because I am not the most organized person, but I helped him anyway. After we went through all of his binders he was very happy because we found a few of the assignments he had been missing, I guess it paid off a little. Eggers’ experience with tutoring shows why his program should be installed around the country. Many elementary schools only motivate the smart kids to succeed, but ignore the kids that need it most. All kids are born with potential, but with one-on-one tutoring their unknown ability can be unlocked. Tutoring is important because teachers don’t have time to tutor every student for 35-40 hours a year, there are too many kids and not enough teachers. 826 Valencia excelled with 1400 volunteers because someone is always available to help. The kids worked so well at 826 Valencia because the pirate shop and McSweeney’s added a nice balance for the students to stay motivated with their work. Motivation is key, so schools and households need to come up with a process that enables their students to learn and work more efficiently.
There are children in many different countries that don’t have the opportunity to be tutored one-on- one. China, Japan, and the Koreas produce some of the most intelligent people in the world, but are all of the children that come through their education system Harvard quality? Probably not, and I bet there are some students that cannot keep up with the high standards of their countries education system. In China, the education system acts similar to their government, a dictatorship. The parents and teachers FORCE their children to succeed in school. In fact, I heard a story about an Asian mom who wouldn’t let her kids do anything besides work on their studies and practice music all throughout their childhood. It paid off because one of her kids went to Harvard; it seems cruel because the mother threw her children’s childhood away to ensure their admission to a top school. Some students can’t keep up with the demanding education system of those countries, so with a giving county like the United States, it would be important to establish tutoring programs for students in other countries. Many students will never get any attention, but that can change if we make a difference. On a poster in Ms. Smith’s classroom, Kids from other countries dream of having our job, but with tutoring and attention we can make their dream become a reality.
Youtube Video (826)
Image (SF)
Works Cited
826 Valencia. Prod. 826 National. Youtube. 12 Nov. 2007. Web. 2 May 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-S2ee9fNBk.
SF 826 Valencia. Digital image. Nomadig. Web. 2 May 2011. http://www.nomadig.com/stuff/sf_826_valencia.jpg.
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