Schools

Tonight, I met a young woman my age through mutual friends. She’s a teacher who lives and works in my neighborhood, so we had a nice chat about the economy, going to grad school and having full-time jobs, and how young Chicagoans are getting priced out of living in the city.

We’re both feeling crunched by our finances, or lack thereof. As breadwinners in our relationships, we struggle with the simple things these days, like putting groceries on the table. Or at least she does – she’s gone back to eating Ramen noodles once a day to keep her grocery bill down. I thought we were struggling because we can’t afford much meat or beer, or to have four different types of cereal in the pantry at once anymore.

I ask her how she likes the education system in our neighborhood. But wait – let me tell you about our neighborhood. It has one of the highest crime rates of all the Chicago neighborhoods, but I am lucky to live in one of the nicest and safest parts. You look up and down my block, and it looks good – green grass between the sidewalk and the street, and the brick fronts are less than 10 years old.

My new friend lives about seven blocks away. Her next door neighbor is the leader of the gang that dominates our turf. The gang sells drugs near every section 8 housing complex in the neighborhood. And suddenly, that chapter in Freakonomics – about how gangs are run just like fast food franchises – doesn’t seem nearly as interesting anymore, like it did when I read it on the comfy couch at my parents’ house in southern Illinois.

She loves her teaching job though. Even though her school cannot afford textbooks and she has to pay for supplies from her measly teacher’s salary. Even though she has to ask the parents for extra money to afford copied handouts, while 99% of her students are on free or reduced meal plans. Even though in her three years of teaching, she has lost six students to gang-related violence.

She is a great teacher and could get a job anywhere, so I can’t help but ask why she does it here. “I do it for the kids,” she replies. Simple. No hints of bitterness or regret for all that she’s sacrificed.

And her words remind me just how much young people want to change the world. It’s the main reason RH and RP wanted to start a company. It’s the main reason I started blogging. But now it is clear to me that changing the world is not done through grandiose ideas or innovative products or extraordinary services or endless capital. Especially today.

No, changing the world is done through community. In fact, there is no way to make a positive change in this world without focusing on improving a community – because changing the world is really only about making other lives better.

I get it now. I get why philanthropy is important, beyond logging hours for your resume. I get that incremental and seemingly insignificant change is not a waste of time, just because I’m only one person and there are no economies of scale. I get why people become teachers instead of computer scientists, even though the pay is crappy and the hours are worse.

Because at the end of any given day, I might have developed a software program. But at the end of her day, she has probably done something to save someone’s life. And she’s making all the difference.