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Teaching

This idea by Dave Eggers (can any thing stop the creativity of this man?) sounds brilliant.

It is a drop in tutorial centre for children. A place where they can do homework, get extra help, be creative… I would be so up for helping with one.

What do others think?

“The real business here is words. Set up three years ago by the writer Dave Eggers and some friends, 826 Valencia in San Francisco’s Mission district is a drop-in centre for schoolchildren looking for extra help with homework, a bit of peace and quiet, or a chance to listen to a good story.

The place has been so successful that it has spawned imitators: New York City has one in Brooklyn (the front is a superhero supplies shop, where the aerodynamic qualities of capes can be tested using an industrial fan), Los Angeles and Michigan have them, and others are imminent in Chicago and Seattle. Massachusetts and Cincinnati have centres modelled on 826.

But that is only part of the story. Eggers, along with two colleagues, has also edited an oral history book, Teachers Have It Easy. It describes, with sometimes startling explicitness, their daily lives. Sure, there’s the teaching, the long days, the constant pressure of being on the job. But other things truly shock: the teachers who mow lawns at weekends or paint houses to make ends meet. The teacher who works in a bar to buy books for his class. If you want an easy life, the book explains in an easy-to-follow chart, become a pharmaceuticals salesman, not a teacher.”

comments

2 Responses to “Teaching”

  1. Hana Loftus on October 11th, 2005

    I heard about this a while back and thought it was great too. would be amazing if you/we/someone could do something similar here.

    h

  2. Ben Yeoh on October 11th, 2005

    let’s keep thinking on this one and if/when we have enough people/space interested maybe we can set it up. I’m sure 826 would support and maybe people like Zadie Smith, Nick Hornby etc. would support as well. B

  • About me

    I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.

  • Recent Work

    Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).

  • Nakamitsu

  • Yellow Gentlemen