Prison Reform

“I’ve been teaching the GED course for 21 years. I’ve helped over 300 students get their certificates. I had one student recently—he was 50 years old and only had a 6th grade education. He sat in the back of the class and didn’t say anything. He just watched. But then one day there was a tough algebra problem that nobody could figure out. He volunteered to come up and tried it on the board, and he got it. In front of everybody. The next day when I arrived, he was sitting in the front. After class I handed him a huge study guide, and told him: ‘If you’ll give 25 percent, I’ll give you 75 percent.’ I told him he could interrupt me at any time to ask me questions. And he did. It seemed like he was coming up to me every few hours-- in the cafeteria, while I was playing cards, while I was watching movies. After nine months he took the test and passed. He was so proud. He said he couldn’t wait to tell his daughter. A few months later I was sitting here in the visiting room, and this young woman kept looking at me. So much so that my girlfriend was starting to get upset. Eventually she walked over to me, and said: ‘Thank you so much for helping my father get his GED.’ It was the best feeling in the world.”

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