I believe privilege exists so that, as someone privileged, you use your resources to ensure others have the same privilege you do. That’s how social responsibility begins, in my opinion. So as soon as social isolation started, I was shocked by the projections of the increase in the level of social inequality, which is already high in Brazil. But I was even more bothered (and in a way even grateful to my parents) by the fact that nothing had changed for me except having to stay at home. I didn’t lose my job, didn’t spend more on rent, didn’t have my salary reduced. I felt it was imperative that I help in any way I could to lessen the impact the pandemic would have on the lives of people in vulnerable situations.
Based on this responsibility, I participated for six months as a writing mentor in a mentoring project for low-income students who were out of school. My student was a 24-year-old woman living in the ABC region of São Paulo. She had studied her whole life in public schools and worked at the same time, graduated in an area she had no interest in pursuing, had just lost her job and access to psychological treatment, was living with her aunt, didn’t have a good relationship with her mother, and her sister was working on the front lines in hospitals and had contracted COVID. Definitely a difficult situation, and probably what most of the Brazilian population is experiencing right now.
We met every week on Tuesday to talk by video so I could help her write better for the ENEM essay. I was in Floripa and she was in São Paulo. A situation that was only possible due to access to the internet and cell phones. This is one of the best examples of how technology, when properly used, can reduce inequalities in education, which is the foundation of any society. At the end of the mentorship, we managed to raise her score to 700 points, with techniques that for me were so simple and automatic because I had studied at one of the best private schools in Brasília (my hometown) and for her were completely alien due to a great lack in her education.
This ending may seem happy and a success story, but a week after the program ended she shared with me the news that she was pregnant and would have to drop out of school to work and take care of the child as a single mother.
My approach in this mentoring role was more assertive, but I’m not sure it’s the best strategy. I was clearly and deliberately feeding her advice steeped in philosophies I believed in. Honestly, I don’t think the existential and stoic advice made me feel authoritarian, but what made me feel dismissive was just that I wasn’t flexible with the model of our meetings, which caused her to stop attending the classes she had at the end. Her poor time management didn’t help either. It’s funny to be in this teacher position; it makes me more aware as a student.
Life in society isn’t easy, it’s often unfair and depressing, but just the fact that I was able to help someone improve some aspect of their life already makes me happy, though still uncomfortable. There’s a lot to be solved, as this experience made clear, and maybe compassion, empathy, and altruism don’t solve all problems, but they definitely work as the oil that lubricates the social machine so it’s less