It certainly isn’t every day one see’s a grown man walking down the street hand in hand with a couple of children. The picture becomes stranger when you imagine the children are not even related to the man. This is just the scene Tabitha Tudy Jones, a resident of Memphis, Tennessee, witnessed one afternoon as she was on her way home from the post office on September 28th.
The stranger turned out to be Carl Schneider, a local teacher, and the children holding his hands were none other than two of his own students from school. Mr. Schneider is actually a special education teacher working at Whitney Achievement school. Per WAFF, he and several other teachers decided of heir own vocation walk some two hundred of their own students home every day every day. A large number of these students live a good distance from the school in apartment complexes, and their parents are unavailable to to pick them up from school in person because of employment obligations, family business or just generally crappy-parenthood.
These good Samaritan teachers felt responsible to make sure that their students made it home without any isuuses. Debra Broughton, Principal at Whitney Achievement school put it like this:
“When we started to launch the school, we recognized that there was a need in the community for children to be able to get home safely.”
Some of the teachers feel the that the time they spent with their students outside of class was far more valuable than the time spent in the classroom. It allowed for them to connect with their students on a more personal level when they weren’t lecturing or assigning homework.
This additional time is incredibly effective in encouraging student-teacher relations and improving the general moral of both occupations. Schneider told WAFF that, “We can just get to know the kids and talk about what they did over the weekend or how their behavior was at school that day or what they learned.” He feels that when he walks the kids home from his school, he shows how much that he and the other teachers feel they are a part of the lives of their students and that they really care for them all.The incredibly selfless attitude demonstrated by Schneider and his fellow teachers demonstrates their genuine care for.
In fact, Schneider himself doesn’t feel like his actions are anything unusual or extraordinary. On the contrary, he looks at it as simply a normal part of his daily routine. Beyond that he claims that the part of the afternoon he spends walking students home is the highlight of his day. Tabitha Tudy Jones, on the other hand feels that he is a true hero and that he fulfills his duty as a teacher and goes above and beyond any reasonable expectation of teachers.
“I didn’t think this was part of the job description.” she offered, truly moved. “But it’s so sweet that he goes above and beyond for the children.”
