CDR: Recommended csmonitor.com article

Thu Nov 9 07:57:59 PST 2000

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foo at bar.net has recommended this article from 
The Christian Science Monitor's electronic edition.

One for Tim May
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Headline:  A college course turns to the streets for real-life lessons
Byline:  
Date: 10/31/2000
Matthew is not what you'd consider a typical expert enlisted to share 
his experience with college students. He hasn't earned a degree. He 
doesn't have an office - or even a phone.

But on a recent warm October day, a group of college students are 
spellbound as Matthew shares his first-hand expertise in a problem they 
witness every day: homelessness.

Holding court in the Boston subway as trains screech through the dark, 
Matthew educates his audience - members of an unusual class on 
homelessness and poverty from the University of Massachusetts at 
Amherst - about everything from finding food to breaking through locked 
doors in search of a warm place to sleep. 

All it takes, he intones, is one bad winter night. "I'm freezing, 
there's nowhere to go," he says of his thought process. "You want to 
get in, you need to get in." 

The course's goal is an understanding of homelessness that transcends 
classroom lectures and policy discussions. Reflective of efforts at 
colleges around the country to enhance in-class study with hands-on 
experience, the class combines service learning with lectures. 

Reading and writing assignments cover political, economic, and 
historical aspects of poverty (see story, below). Students also hand 
out food and clothing.

Through the wide-ranging approach, participants - whose majors range 
from engineering to sociology - hope not only to gain a clearer sense 
of the world beyond their dorm rooms, but also to probe for solutions 
to a seemingly intractable problem.

Indeed, more than 700,000 people in America were homeless on any given 
night in 1999, and up to 2 million people during the year, according to 
National Coalition for the Homeless. Many are hampered by a lack of 
affordable rents and buildings that accommodate group living. 

Sandwiches and socks

On this particular day, the U-Mass group joins students from Dartmouth 
College, Boston University, and other schools where volunteers work 
with an outreach program called City Reach.

The students organize a clothing giveaway at St. Paul's Episcopal 
Cathedral. Then they fill their backpacks with sandwiches and socks and 
head out on the streets in small teams.

As they pass park benches, narrow alleys, and expansive fields, they 
hear a common message from the former truck drivers, teachers, and war 
veterans who make up the homeless community: We never thought it would 
happen to us. 

Matthew, who has lived on the street for three years since losing his 
job, tells students that one night a few years ago, he broke into a 
train station and slept on a marble bench. He awoke to commuters 
reading newspapers. 

"I prayed I hadn't been snoring," he says with a chuckle. But, he adds, 
"people walked right past me. It's like a whole other world..., another 
speed." 

A key element in this kind of a class is careful planning and focus to 
avoid seeming voyeuristic, says Meg Campbell, a lecturer at the Harvard 
Graduate School of Education. 

"It can sharpen and form life directions," she says. "You can't become 
an auto mechanic without practicing on the car. It requires added work 
from the teacher..., a great deal of respect and planning."

Firsthand insights

Students agree, pointing to the advantages of gaining firsthand 
insights.

"Both [of us] are students and teachers," says Eric Chapdelaine, a 
senior and biochemistry major at U-Mass. "I learned more in the one 
class [in which a homeless man] came and talked to us than I learned in 
all my four years. You meet these people on the streets and you realize 
that without parents or a support system you could easily become 
homeless." 

On the walk, a few students quietly stand over a man sleeping on a park 
bench in Boston Common. One places food and juice nearby. As they 
continue, Matthew describes the struggles of not having a roof to sleep 
under. He points to a tree where one homeless friend froze to death. He 
recalls retreats to spacious bathrooms in the John Hancock building to 
get some "peace and quiet." He also tells of sleeping in the winter 
over the heating grates outside the library. 

These personal stories are what students say they will remember most 
from the weekend. Yet some at first feel anxiety about the 
interactions, says their teacher, the Rev. Chris Carlisle. But he says 
they tend to walk away feeling "empowered to do something about it." 
The class "helps illuminate commonalities in a socioeconomic system 
that emphasizes differences."

Bill, who has lived in a shelter for more than a year, explains that 
stereotyping the homeless is a common mistake. Just short of earning a 
PhD, he used to teach music in public schools. But he lost his home 
when he suffered from depression.

"If someone tells you a homeless person is a bum with a dirty raincoat, 
a hat without a brim, and oily pants on, then what are you gonna say to 
them?" he asks the students.

"It's not the case," students respond in unison. 

He's currently involved in work-placement programs and hopes to find a 
home soon. Educating students keeps him focused, he says, and he hopes 
they will work toward solutions.

Some possibilities include strengthening job programs, building more 
affordable housing, and helping low-income people improve their credit, 
everyone agrees. Many homeless - who are typically single, minority 
males - have disabilities or addictions that keep them from working.

Though some people without homes say they are unmotivated, a large 
number possess a drive to succeed but lack resources or education, adds 
Don, a war veteran who lives in a shelter. Don just started a 
merchandising job at Filene's Basement and hopes to have a place of his 
own soon. "I'm here because I didn't want to be sitting up there 
watching TV with all the other men and not doing anything," he says.

As they leave, students discuss other solutions, which include putting 
decisionmakers in closer touch with the problems and creating programs 
that encourage changes in behavior. Matthew, for one, advocates as a 
temporary solution that churches open their doors to the homeless at 
night.

But most important, students say they walk away with a newfound respect 
for homeless people. "I was just amazed at how active some of them 
are.... I don't know what they're not capable of," says Carl Gieringer, 
who traveled to Boston with his church group at Dartmouth.

Jenna Sippel, a sophomore at U Mass, agrees. "It's totally humbling. 
These people have so much faith.... It makes me want to be like them." 

E-mail cooks at csps.com

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